Everyday around 7000 tonnes of ‘waste’ clay are sent to landfill from excavation and construction projects in London such as HS2 or the Thames ‘super sewer’. This is an incredibly large resource stream and represents a golden opportunity to use this material to design and build future architectural projects.

This project utilises the craft of clay 3D printing and algorithmic-aided design methodologies to challenge traditional ideas about the relationship between humans and the built environment. By using such technologies there is the potential to create buildings that are responsive, adaptive, and perfectly evolved to both their human, and non-human contexts.

In order to prepare for a future where organic, data and simulation driven design methodologies are commonplace, a flexible, adaptable system needs to be created to cover a wide variety of use-cases. This research explores the potential for 3D printed, post-tensioned ceramic systems which can be made from waste streams, and bring to physicality the intelligence of nature and data-driven design methodologies.