Roberto Naboni

• Associate Professor at SDU - CREATE Director
• Professor (Associate) at University of Southern Denmark

Structural adaptivity and readiness for change are some of the key enablers of resilient and sustainable architecture. This paper presents an approach to the design and construction of reconfigurable timber slabs, termed ReconWood Slabs, which integrate a stress-driven design approach and cyber-physical construction processes to enhance data-inform...

The use of robots to produce 3D-printed concrete structures is developing rapidly. The technology offers promising potential to change the way we design and optimise concrete structures. This has already been shown by numerous publications in academia and showcased in the industry. When developing new design expressions for 3D-printed concrete stru...

Establishing sustained human settlements on the lunar surface poses unprecedented challenges and necessitates a sustainable approach to space exploration that minimises dependence on Earth's resources. This requires automation and seamless integration of design and construction processes to provide habitats that meet mission-specific requirements....

This study investigates the development of functionally graded wood bio-composites, integrating sawdust and 3D-printed wood polymer filaments as fibre reinforcements within a rosin-beeswax matrix. Aimed at providing sustainable material alternatives for the construction industry, this research explores the customisation of mechanical properties and...

In addressing the critical need to lower CO2 emissions in concrete construction, where slabs represent 43% of embodied carbon in midrise buildings, this study presents an innovative approach utilising 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP). We introduce 3DLightSlab, a carbon-efficient design for load-bearing slabs that leverages stress-driven design to genera...

The rapid evolution of 3D printing technology is reshaping the construction industry, offering the potential for environmentally sustainable and architecturally innovative structures. This article explores the pioneering work of SDU CREATE at the University of Southern Denmark in 3D concrete printing. From characterising specialised concrete mixtur...

Despite its potential to decarbonise the built environment, wood is often found on construction sites as a source of waste rather than building material. In Denmark, wood is mainly used for temporary structures envisioned for short life cycles and single use, after which it is destined for incineration, defining it as "sustainable energy". This res...

Wood is a fundamental resource for building the future environment and meeting CO2 reduction goals. However, wood is truly sustainable only if it can be preserved for a long time and reused throughout several construction cycles. Previous research by the authors shows that algorithmic design and automation technologies are introducing novel possibi...

Constructions have a tremendous impact on global warming and are responsible for 39% of annual carbon emissions. Designers will increasingly focus on developing design methods and solutions that mitigate the impact of buildings over the next few years. Accordingly, this chapter focuses on developing an accessible computational design method to inve...

Accounting for over 40% of global waste, the construction industry needs innovative approaches to reduce its environmental impact. Excavation soil is currently considered waste and disposed of in landfills, accounting for about five times household waste and being the most significant source by volume. However, 80% of the extracted soil from constr...

In timber buildings lately (re)gaining importance thanks to their environmental and structural performance, it is imperative to rethink material usage to reduce the pressure on the forests and optimize how the harvested material is used. Slab structures in buildings account for a significant amount of material employed due to their load-bearing req...

In timber buildings lately (re)gaining importance thanks to their environmental and structural performance, it is imperative to rethink material usage to reduce the pressure on the forests and optimize how the harvested material is used. Slab structures in buildings account for a significant amount of material employed due to their load-bearing req...

The paper presents a workflow for the design, material testing and numerical simulation of shape-optimised reinforced 3D Concrete Printed (3DCP) beams tested structurally in three-point bending. Building upon previous research on structurally optimised toolpath planning for 3DCP, the presented work suggests a method for the computational design opt...

Principal stresses and moments are increasingly used to design efficient structural geometries in concrete slabs and shells. These are typically obtained through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) packages and represented as vector fields with singularities, such as high convergence or divergence areas. Designing architectural structures interpreting th...

Polyhedral structures are a fascinating and efficient case of structural virtuosity. However, their adoption to date has been limited because of geometrical, structural and fabrication complexities. This paper introduces a modelling pipeline to provide a rigorous -yet practical- approach to the challenges linked to the realisation of 3D polyhedral...

In the era when the construction industry urges a paradigm shift towards more sustainable and efficient building solutions, the paper describes the design scenarios opened by 3D printed reusable formworks in the production of bespoke building scale concrete elements as a solution to the formal and technical limitations of the conventional manufactu...

Mixed Reality tools offer new possibilities for cyber-physical design and construction and promote novel collaboration protocols. This work tackles a multi-user open-end design and construction of reconfigurable timber structures in Mixed Reality by introducing a computational workflow, physical setup and custom-designed interface. The developed pr...

In the 2020s, large scale 3D concrete printing (3DCP) is one of the most important areas of development for research and industry in construction automation. However, the available technology fails to adapt to the complexity of a real construction site and building process, oversimplifying design, production, and products to fit the current state o...

3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) is a rapidly expanding area in the field of architecture, engineering, and construction, but very limited research has quantitatively investigated its environmental impact. The existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies on 3DCP lack clearly defined functional units of comparison, especially considering load-bearing str...

The paper presents a data-informed toolpath-based design approach for 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) for the fabrication of architectural horizontal structures in one continuous printing process. 3DCP has inherent advantages resulting from shaping concrete without formwork and from placing material only where functionally required. However, to date, o...

Tessellation is a flexible modelling method for computational designers that allows to articulate and detail complex topological surfaces by repeating components along target surfaces. This technique provides a discretization strategy compatible with many digital-fabrication processes. Well-known geometrical issues limit such an approach on surface...

Standard wood bending approachesrely either on heavy industrial processes optimized for repeatability or on crafting techniques that are mostly intended for the production of small-scale products. Contemporary research focuses on digital fabrication methods to overcome geometrical limitations and automate freeform wood construction without the need...

The recent advances in 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) greatly impact architectural design, highlighting the disconnection between digital modelling and manufacturing processes. Conventional digital design tools present limitations in the description of a volumetric object, which is constrained to the definition of idealized external boundaries but neg...

The construction sector is investigating wood as a highly sustainable material for fabrication of architectural elements. Several researchers in the field of construction are currently designing novel timber structures as well as novel solutions for fabricating such structures, i.e. robot technologies which allow for automation of a domain dominate...

Despite the increasing interest in 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) in construction, limited research has quantitatively investigated the environmental impact that 3DCP brings. The existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies in the field can be criticized for a lack of clearly defined functional units of comparison, especially considering load-bearing...

The diffusion of computational means in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) sector has impacted multiple actors and phases of the construction value chain, offering possibilities for increased efficiency and productivity. Among all, the area of construction manufacturing has been challenged by the involvement of compu...

This chapter investigates the potential of additive manufacturing technologies for façade and building skin applications and discusses methods, technical possibilities and current limitations compared to standard construction. State-of-the-art techniques for construction 3D printing are reviewed, providing insights into the field’s evolution and em...

Visual Programming Language (VPL) is utilized with increasing frequency in Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries to accomplish tasks relating to advanced geometry and complex designs. In recent developments, VPLs have gained traction in robotic research, where they are being explored as a good tool for robotic programming. Wh...

Wood as a construction material gained interest in the last decade because of its low carbon footprint and the continuous research of new design possibilities opened using computational and robotic means. The shaping of timber into nonstandard shapes is challenging and industrially demanding. This paper showcases a method to computationally control...

The advent of Robotic Timber Assembly is offering exciting possibilities and challenges for structural developments. This research proposes a new concept of timber connections used in automated robotic assembly and disassembly. The connection presents some interesting features: it facilitates self-alignment during the construction process, it provi...

The concept of circularity implies that materials, components, systems can be re-utilized to reduce their environmental impact by extending their life-cycle. This paper discusses an approach to circular construction that revolves around transformable wood architecture. What if we can make buildings that can be assembled, disassembled, and reassembl...

Robotically controlled 3D Concrete Printing is a rapidly evolving technology that offers promising potential to change the way we can design and optimise concrete structures. Many research groups in academia and start-ups have already showcased its potential in various types of structures. However, the mechanical properties of 3D printed concrete c...

Digital fabrication is blurring the boundaries between design, manufacturing and material effects. More and more experimental design processes involve an intertwined investigation of these aspects, especially when it comes to additive techniques such as 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP). Conventional digital tools present limitations in the description o...

The field of architecture is more and more referring to wood as a sustainable solution for satisfying the need of new buildings while offsetting carbon emissions. In parallel, the research in Robotic Timber Construction (RTC) has evolved rapidly, focusing both on fabrication and assembly processes in order to improve the productivity of the constru...

Wood is more and more seen as a sustainable solution to offset carbon emissions from constructions. In response and in parallel to this, the research in robotic timber construction is evolving rapidly, pushed by Industry 4.0 technologies and the integration of digital and physical robotic assets. This paper presents an approach for the design and a...

Welcome scholars to submit their recent research results to this Special Issue. The suitable article themes include, but are not limited to, the following: - Additive manufacturing for large-scale structures; - Innovative, advanced manufacturing; - Theories, techniques, and methods of robotic fabrication; - Metal additive manufacturing; - 3D-printe...

Composite waste, especially from wind turbine blades will increase foreseeably. The motivation of this paper is to develop new solutions to repurpose the global material stream coming from wind turbine blades at their end of use. Its suggested to use the composite structure for repurposing, differing from the available recycling methods that aim fo...

Building with Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an increasingly relevant research topic in the field of Construction 4.0, where designers are seeking higher automation, complexity and precision compared to conventional construction methods. As an answer to the problem of increasing scarcity of resources, the presented research exploits the potential o...

One of the major downsides of concrete construction is the difficulty to be adapted, modified and deconstructed. In this work, we look at the potential enabled by the use of Additive Formwork based on Fused Deposition Modelling, in order to design and manufacture structural elements which can be assembled and disassembled easily. We call this new t...

The paper discusses the technical developments in using 3D printed reusable formworks for the production of high-resolution building-scale concrete panels. The research looks at innovation in the production of concrete elements and extends current design possibilities with economically viable moulds. The relation occurring between the presented man...

Additive Manufacturing is rapidly developing in the area of concrete constructions. However, to date, several challenges still exist in terms of material and structural performance, which require further studies. In order to avoid such limitations, we research in the use of additive technologies to produce formwork for concrete construction element...

The emerging paradigm of Industry 4.0 is rapidly expanding in the AEC sector, where emergent technologies are offering new possibilities. The use of collaborative robots is enabling processes of advanced fabrication, where humans and robots coexist and collaborate towards the co-creation of new building processes. This paper focuses on setting a co...

Overconsumption of resources is one of the greatest challenges of our century. The amount of material that is being extracted, harvested and consumed in the last decades is increasing tremendously. Building with new manufacturing technology, such as 3D Printing, is offering new perspectives in the way material is utilized sustainably within a const...

Building on a large scale with Additive Manufacturing (AM) is one of the biggest manufacturing challenges of our time. In the last decade, the proliferation of 3D printing has allowed architects and engineers to imagine and develop constructions that can be produced additively. However, questions about the convenience of using this technology, and...

Concrete is undoubtedly the most employed material in constructions. In principle it allows to build complex architecture, where form can be for the realization of complex shapes. However, the biggest limitation of its use is explained by the demanding process needed to create free-form casts, it often limits its potential to obvious geometries. Wi...

Advancements in computational tools are offering designers the possibility to change their relationship with materials and establishing new synergies between matter, form and behaviour. This work explores this paradigm by introducing the use of auxetic metamaterials, specifically engineered to obtain properties beyond those found in nature, to gene...

This chapter illustrates the main approach for a generative use of structural optimization in architecture. Structural optimization is very typical of sectors like mechanical, automotive engineering, while in architecture it is a less used approach that however could give new possibilities to performative design. Topology Optimization, one of its m...

This chapter illustrates the main approach for a generative use of structural optimization in architecture. Structural optimization is very typical of sectors like mechanical, automotive engineering, while in architecture it is a less used approach that however could give new possibilities to performative design. Topology Optimization, one of its m...

The last decades have been marked by a growing concern over scarcity of resources caused by the rapid industrialization of emerging economies as well as by the high material consumption at a global scale. These changing environmental conditions have inevitably created new challenges and demands for mediation of the interaction between the natural a...

Advancements in computational tools are offering designers the possibility to change their relationship with materials. The exploration of auxetic metamaterials, specifically engineered to obtain properties beyond those found in nature, is the promising field examined in this paper. The aim is to define tools and methods in order to design auxetics...

The paper discusses the process of computational design, analysis and fabrication for a lightweight super-thin gridshell structure. Digital form-finding based on Particle Spring Systems is used to define a compression-based shape, which is discretized through a parametric process into box-shaped components with embedded assembly and structural logi...

O artigo investiga a potencial aplicação de estruturas auxéticas na arquitetura através da combinação de métodos de desenho computacional e Manufatura Aditiva (MA). Essa classe de materiais apresenta comportamento interessante relacionado à característica pouco comum de possuir coeficiente de Poisson negativo, ou seja, ao contrário de outros materi...

Este artigo tem como intuito apresentar um trabalho baseado em uma metodologia computacional e os resultados decorrentes da aplicação de técnicas de tecelagem para a construção de um sistema arquitetônico experimental, oWeaving Enclosure. A pesquisa explora a correspondência entre as propriedades do material e a montagem de sistemas encontrados em...

This paper attempts at defining a novel method for designing integrated building skins taking inspiration from nature, where construction happens as an additive growth process with coherent development of form, structure and performance. The research focuses on the hierarchical structure of bones to challenge the current design paradigms of lightwe...

The Third Industrial revolution is a growing phenomenon characterized by the diffusion of digital fabrication devices and the consequent democratization of production. An alternative open-source fabrication ecosystem is gradually developing and challenging the actual production logics and, as consequence, the social organization. The discipline of...

Advanced Machinery focuses on one fundamental driver of the customization process in the construction sector: the use of advanced digitally controlled fabrication tools. Custom-made architectural systems require tailored fabrication processes, which are described in order to help the designer, with the use of parametric tools to integrate fabricati...

The chapter envisions an agenda for a 100 % customized architecture to increase quality and performance of the built environment. Advanced machines connected to computational applications encourage an understanding of architectural design as an information flow. Design teams use, and in some cases develop directly, tailored tools to extract the des...

Introduction to Advanced Customization offers an insight into the future potentials and challenges that the building sector will be facing in the following years. A strong inclination towards innovation in architecture and construction is foreseeable due to vast changes in the realms of computational design and advanced digital fabrication tools. T...

key words: performance-based architecture; anticipatory design; computational design; homeostasis; smart materials As a result of the current environmental crisis, the field of architecture is seeking for novel, nature-inspired paradigms for sustainable constructions. The potential of a truly anticipatory architecture is here investigated through...

The paper outlines a parametric-assisted method for the 3D reconstruction and creation of BIM models for the built heritage. The research implements the emerging paradigms of open sourcing, cloud computing and interoperability, employing low-cost technologies (digital photogrammetry) and open source software (Grasshopper for Rhinoceros) which can e...

How to build (almost) anything customized analyzes, through a selection of case studies, the state-of-the-art workflows in the creation of highly customized architecture: unique prototypes for individual customers in specific contexts. Employing computational design tools and high-precision digital machinery, it is currently achievable to build wit...

This book presents the state of the art in advanced customization within the sector of architectural design and construction, explaining important new technologies that are boosting design, product and process innovation and identifying the challenges to be confronted as we move toward a mass customization construction industry. Advanced machinery...

This book presents the state of the art in advanced customization within the sector of architectural design and construction, explaining important new technologies that are boosting design, product and process innovation and identifying the challenges to be confronted as we move toward a mass customization construction industry. Advanced machinery...

The paper discusses the advancement in the mass-customization of building components referring to Robot-Assisted Manufacturing. It is presented how the contemporary employment of Robotics offers a perspective of flexible alternative to traditional serial production system. Different Robot-Assisted fabrication methods are discussed through built exp...