onecity

about

Design: Melody Rees, Jason Vereschak (Branch Technology)

Engineering: Thornton Tomasetti CORE Studio, Site-Civil Engineering

Fabrication: Branch Technology, Range Projects

Client: Cambridge Inc. for OneCity, Nashville, TN

Date: August, 2018

Roles: Materials Formulation & Testing, Software Development, Prototyping, Fabrication, New Staff Training (Robotics, Extrusion, Polymers)

This project was recently installed as a permanent addition to OneCity, a LEED mixed-use and neighborhood development in West End, Nashville. The pavilion is both the tallest (21 ft) and largest-spanning (40 ft) 3D printed structure in the world, and was designed primarily through topology optimization and other form-finding techniques. The 1,000 cubic foot volume of the structure was fabricated in 36 parts, the largest of which were 18 feet in length.

During early development, engineers found that the original design produced by the client would require significant steel reinforcement that not only compromised the design, but also would more than double the overall cost of the project. Rather than continue to design around a steel structure, Branch chose to utilize computational techniques to virtually eliminate the need for supplemental reinforcement.

The project is an extraordinary demonstration of an emergent digital construction process that utilizes both computational design tools and large-scale additive manufacturing to achieve unprecedented results.

Photo Credits: Branch Technology, Thornton Tomasetti

More:

https://www.branch.technology/projects-1/2018/11/8/one-city-pavilion

https://www.curbed.com/2018/7/20/17596060/3d-printing-branch-technology-nashville-tennessee