Con(Knit)uous Rubble

As renovation and demolition trends are increasing, there is an anticipated volume of concrete rubble. Current methods include crushing the material for recycled concrete aggregate, and others propose computationally intense 3D-scanning and match-making algorithms, usually with the addition of mortars.

We offer a solution that reduces pre-sorting complexity, the need for high-precision joinery and embraces the heterogeneous and granular nature of rubble.

We propose a material system which consists of a knitted soft container, and jammed concrete rubble up to 30cm in width. The knitted container is used to restrict the rubble at a certain volume, while the rubble is responsible for the majority of load bearing.

The automation of the system includes developing a robotic end-effector featuring a circular knitting machine for continuous knitting, a funnel for pouring, and a percolation machine. The benefit of knitting on the fly is the better control of material jamming, material deposition, and hence the creation of precise, compressive architectures similar to very low resolution concrete 3D printing.

We envision the system for initially creating single-storey compressive elements such as columns, arches, vaults and shells.

We are currently looking for industry partners with expertise in industrial knitting, adaptive fabrication with reused materials, as well as support in the production of robust hardware for our end-effector setup.