粘土圆厅是独立的土基筒形结构，构成了SE MusicLab高保真音乐厅的隔音外壳，建在伯尔尼翻新的Gurten啤酒厂内。筒形结构将粘土这种可持续的零废建材与计算机技术相结合，用15厘米的无筋粘土建造出直径近11米、高5米的结构。机械系统在现场进行建造，在50天内汇聚了三万多块软黏土砖。

The Clay Rotunda is a free-standing earth-based cylindrical structure constituting the outer, soundproof shell of the SE MusicLab, a high-fidelity music auditorium built inside the newly refurbished Gurten Brewery in Bern. The cylindrical structure combines clay, a sustainable zero-waste building material, with computational design techniques. Featuring a diameter of almost 11 meters the structure reaches a height of 5 meters with just 15 cm of unreinforced clay. It was built in-situ by a mobile robotic system that aggregated over 30’000 soft clay bricks over a period of 50 days.

▼啤酒厂内的粘土圆厅，the Clay Rotunda in the brewery © Gramazio Kohler Research

▼直径近11米、高5米的粘土结构，the clay structure nearly 11 meters in diameter and 5 meters high © Gramazio Kohler Research

设计Design

波浪形设计实现了粘土圆厅的极大细长比，增加占地面积并稳定结构，避免屈曲影响。控制薄壳几何形状的计算机模型结合了设计师结构模型、粘土特性以及建造顺序。事实上，机械臂可达范围有限、材料干燥时会产生收缩，这使得建造过程需要使用复杂的措施将水平和垂直节段变成相互匹配的梯形结构。计算机模型还可以计算每个节段的建造顺序以及三万块粘土柱的位置。机械臂压在结构上的特定方向对确保节段适当粘合起到重要作用。最后，计算机模型包含了机械建造过程的所有数据，这些数据使外形复杂的定制结构得以实现。

The extreme slenderness of the Clay Rotunda is made possible by its undulated design, which allows to increase the footprint and stabilize the structure in order to prevent buckling effects. The computational model that controls the geometry of this thin shell was designed by taking into account the structural models of the engineers, the material properties of the clay as well as the sequencing of the building process. In fact, the limited reach of the robotic arm and the shrinking of the material while drying demanded the implementation of complex strategies for the horizontal and vertical segmentation of the structure into matching trapezoids. The computational model also allowed computing the building sequence within each segment as well as the position of each one of the 30’000 clay cylinders. The particular orientation in which the robotic arm pressed them onto the structure was particularly important to ensure proper bonding between the different segments. Finally, the model contains all the fabrication data needed to run the robotic process that allows the realization of bespoke structures of unmatched geometry complexity.

▼波浪形外观，undulated appearance © Gramazio Kohler Research