Professors Dana Cupkova and Joshua Bard were recently awarded new funding to expand their interdisciplinary research project titled "Profile-3D-Printing Thermally Tuned Concrete Panels to Offset Mechanical Loads in Buildings." Their proposal has been selected for grant awards from the Manufacturing Futures Initiative 2018 and the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Innovation Program 2018.
As Principal Investigators, Bard and Cupkova collaborate on the project with co-PIs and fellow-CMU faculty members David Bourne (Robotics) and Newell Washburn (Chemistry). The team explores the thermal design and robotic construction of high-performance concrete architectural components, relying on complex surface geometry to actuate specific passive thermal behavior in buildings. Bridging an understanding of thermal performance, geometry, and manufacturing, this research agenda suggests direct formal relationships between the behavior of airflow to tool-path planning for a robotic arm.