SUSTAINABILITY GETS 3D

Designed by MCA (Mario Cucinella Architects), engineered and built by WASP, TECLA is a prototype of an onsite 3D-printed habitat, launched near Bologna, Italy. The innovative model creates future housing solutions and re-questions the idea of living in the city. It provides a shelter for everyone, through a sustainable, low-cost and efficient method.

TECLA, the new “circular housing model, created using entirely reusable, recyclable materials taken from the local terrain”, has a particular construction process, based on the circular economy logic. The project is printed onsite quickly and sustainably using the Crane WASP. In a step towards eco-housing, TECLA will be the first house fabricated using multiple collaborative 3D printers. The prototype offers new perspectives and new fundamentals for a future autonomous eco-city.

Named after one of the cities in Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, TECLA is a combination of technological innovation with sustainable awareness. Imagined by MCA, an architectural firm whose work combines environmental and energy efficiency strategies, with the know-how of WASP, Italy's pioneering 3D company, TECLA is a game-changer.

3D-printed entirely using locally sourced clay, a biodegradable and recyclable material, the shelter can adapt to different contexts and environments. Suitable for self-production, with the WASP’s innovative Maker Economy Starter Kit, the model can “boost the national and local economy, improving the wellbeing of communities, [and] accelerate the construction process as the 3D printer will produce the entire structure at once”.

“WASP takes inspiration from the potter wasp,” says Massimo Moretti, founder of WASP. “We build 3D-printed houses using earth found on the spot, under a sustainable perspective. The oldest material and state-of-the-art technology merge to give new hope to the world. Gaia, our first 3D printed house made with raw earth, was born a year ago. Today with our partners we are printing TECLA an entire eco-sustainable habitat.”

TECLA was developed using research conducted with the support of Mario Cucinella students from the Sustainable Environmental Design program at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. The investigation searched for a solution that make the model capable of withstanding different climates, resulting in a highly flexible envelope, resilient and energy-efficient. TECLA started printing in September 2019 and is due to complete by the beginning of 2020, at WASP headquarters in Massa Lombarda.

“Together with WASP, we aim at developing an innovative 3D-printed prototype for a habitat that responds to the increasingly urgent climate revolution and the needs of changes dictated by community needs,” says Mario Cucinella, founder of Mario Cucinella Architects. “We need a paradigm shift in the field of architecture that gets closer to the needs of people, thus finding an answer for the ‘Earth’ within the ‘earth’.”

Via ArchDaily | Images courtesy of WASP