Abstract3D concrete printing (3DCP) technology is a construction method that offers a unique combination of automation and customization. However, when the printing area goes large, generating the print path becomes a sophisticated work. That’s because the customized print path should not only be expandable but also printable, such rules are hard to follow as both the printing area and construction requirements increase. In this paper, the Shenzhen Baoan 3D Printing Park project serves as a case study to introduce space-filling and print path generation methods for three types of large-area concrete pavement. The space-filling methods utilize geometry-based rules to generate complex and expandable paving patterns, while the print path generation methods utilize construction-oriented rules to convert these patterns into print paths. The research provides easy-to-operate design and programming workflows to achieve a pavement printing area of 836 sqm, which significantly increases the construction scale of large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) and shows the potential of 3D printing technology to reach non-standard results by using standard workflows.

Porous urban spaces not only improve interactions, but also increase natural ventilation. Weathered rocks are where porous spaces exist in nature. This paper investigates the biomimicry of tafoni, a type of weathered rock that contains pores of varying sizes. The formation of tafoni inspires architectural design, but its complex shape makes manual modeling challenging. The objective of studying the biomimetics of tafoni is to apply its benefits to design applications. Using biomimetic techniques, computation algorithms for tafoni morphogenesis are developed. This paper investigates the inherent characteristics of tafoni and reclassifies them based on architectural geometric elements. It then describes the reclassified tafoni and explains the formation process. This paper develops a 3D evolutionary algorithm and a 2.5D descriptive algorithm based on diagrams. After a comparison, the 2.5D algorithm is chosen because it is more controllable and operable for computational design. This paper also conducts experiments on the results obtained by the 2.5D algorithm to demonstrate its adaptability and architectural design application potential, as well as its application schemes in various design disciplines, including urban planning, architectural design, and landscape design. This paper proposes an algorithm that can be utilized in various fields of computational design. It is computationally efficient while retaining its biological form.

The rich organic pore spaces of weathered rocks bring inspiration to architectural design. Based on the existing research on the natural formation mechanism of weathered rocks, this paper proposes two algorithms that achieve natural formation mechanism simulation and morphology simulation. Firstly, this study deeply explores the intrinsic characteristics of weathered rocks; secondly, the basic framework of iterative cyclic calculation by multiple weathering forces is built to make the calculation results of 3D point cloud close to the real morphology of weathered rocks; subsequently, this study innovatively introduces a 2D stacked layer algorithm for optimization while maintaining the morphological characteristics; finally, the architecture design application of the optimization algorithm is verified. Compared with the 3D point cloud simulation algorithm, the 2D layered algorithm can greatly reduce the computational time complexity and control the generated space's utilization.