Postgraduate in 3D Printing Architecture

3DPA is a six-month intensive programme at the forefront of additive manufacturing, transforming how we design and build.

The Postgraduate in 3D Printing Architecture (3DPA) is an advanced programme exploring the intersection of technology, material research, and robotic manufacturing. Focusing on performance-based design and innovation in digital fabrication.

IAAC’s Postgraduate in 3D Printing Architecture (3DPA) is a six-month programme that goes beyond speculation—it actively prototypes the future. Working alongside industry partners, it develops real-world architectural solutions to tackle today’s most urgent challenges.

Why 3DPA?

The Postgraduate in 3D Printing Architecture (3DPA) is applied research at its core. Rather than speculating on far-off futures, the focus is on utilising the latest technologies to reshape current construction practices. The programme builds upon a foundation of research developed within the Institute, furthered by close collaboration with leading industry partners.

Programme Structure

The course runs as a partially collective programme with a mixed group of researchers of IAAC’s Master second years and other specialised students with interest in 3d printing, in eco-friendly material research or in the field of housing.

The course is structured in 3 phases: Learn, a series of exercises to gain knowledge into the topic followed by Explore, an explorative phase through research and finally Demonstrate, a divided into Project Studio: a design competition and conceptual planning followed by a Large Scale Prototype construction: the construction of a 1:1 prototype that challenges the use of earthen architecture fragments in the built environment

Term 1. TECHNE

Craftsmanship and Technology

An experimental and hands-on approach to Additive Manufacturing with robots. Eco-friendly material printing resides in the control of robotic technology and the mastering of its complex materiality.

This six-week phase emphasises receiving knowledge at the intersection of craftsmanship and technology, focusing on matter, machine, structure, and the built environment through detail, fragments, and architecture. Students will work in small groups on short, intense exercises and experiments.

*Areas of research may vary from year to year.

Term 2. RESEARCH

Building Performance

Research refers to the systematic method consisting of enunciating a problem, formulating a hypothesis, collecting facts and data, analysing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either in the form of solution(s) towards the concerned problem, or in certain generalisations for a theoretical formulation.

The second phase is an eight-week exploratory studio focusing on research into building performance, covering topics such as geometry, rigidity, fibre reinforcements, optimisations, and support systems*.

*Areas of research may vary from year to year.

Term 3. VISION and CONSTRUCTION

Architectural Scale Construction and Design

3D printing, a digital technology, challenges a conventional design approach and requires the elaboration of new strategies partially based on the use of computation. We develop a performance-based approach to design for 3D printed architectural solutions. Within the realms of a design project for a complex humanitarian situation, the design of buildings is the result of a complex negotiation between fulfilling climatic, structural, manufacturing and habitation purposes.

The third phase begins with a collective design competition, where the group applies all the knowledge gained from phase two to develop a design proposal for a 1:1 prototype as a building fragment.

This phase concludes with the group constructing a large prototype at a 1:1 architectural scale. In parallel, the group will develop an architectural design vision and document their research, compiling it into a collective thesis printed document.

*Areas of research may vary from year to year.

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