{"id":644875,"date":"2026-10-13T06:50:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T06:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/644875\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T06:50:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T06:50:52","slug":"robotically-3d-printed-earth-bricks-wrap-multispecies-habitat-around-olive-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/644875\/","title":{"rendered":"robotically 3D printed earth bricks wrap multispecies habitat around olive tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

178 3D printed earth bricks form porous habitat around olive tree<\/p>\n

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BUSTAN, meaning \u2018orchard,\u2019 is a full-scale earthen<\/a> pavilion developed by the Material Topology Research Lab (MTRL) at the Technion \u2013 Israel Institute of Technology and Weizmann Tree Lab for The Circle exhibition at Design Museum Holon. Built from 178 robotically<\/a> 3D printed<\/a> earth bricks, the structure is organized around a living olive tree, treated as the pavilion\u2019s primary client. The bricks are made mainly from locally sourced soil mixed with bio-based<\/a> plant fibers and mineral binders. Each brick is digitally designed and robotically printed with a specific geometry and surface texture, giving it an ecological function related to shade, thermal mass, airflow, moisture, or habitat.<\/p>\n

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The pavilion<\/a> forms a porous wall that creates a microclimate around the tree\u2019s canopy and root zone. Certain bricks shade the roots and reduce solar exposure, while thick earthen walls absorb heat during the day and release it at night. Openings near the top promote passive stack ventilation, and the layered soil profile in the planting zone retains moisture through capillary action.<\/p>\n

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Bespoke brick geometries also create niches for plants, insects, birds, small mammals, fungi, and biocrusts. As the earthen structure weathers and becomes inhabited, the project proposes architecture as part of an evolving living system rather than a fixed object.<\/p>\n

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BUSTAN, a pavilion of 178 robotically 3D printed earth bricks built around a living olive tree | all images \u00a9Edo Asoulin<\/p>\n

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Ancient agricultural practices meet robotic earth fabrication<\/p>\n

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BUSTAN draws on agricultural practices from the drylands of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, where shade, soil, water, shelter, and local materials were used to create microclimates for cultivation. The project translates this environmental logic through computational design and robotic fabrication.<\/p>\n

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The earth is developed into an extrudable paste and deposited layer by layer by a robotic arm through a custom nozzle. Each brick type follows its own toolpath, producing differentiated forms and surfaces according to its ecological role. The process included local soil collection, material testing, binder development, robotic programming, and fabrication at the Technion Advanced Construction Center (TACC).<\/p>\n

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As part of MTRL\u2019s<\/a> research into material ecology, robotic fabrication, and landscape, BUSTAN brings these ideas together as a full-scale prototype that tests how computational tools and local materials can support tree cultivation and multispecies habitat.<\/p>\n

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the olive tree crowns the earthen enclosure, its canopy rising above the printed walls<\/p>\n

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hand assembly of the printed courses around the olive tree<\/p>\n

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the two halves of the pavilion and the olive tree during the assembly<\/p>\n

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looking up from inside the pavilion: the earthen enclosure frames the canopy of the olive tree<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"178 3D printed earth bricks form porous habitat around olive tree \u00a0 BUSTAN, meaning \u2018orchard,\u2019 is a full-scale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[9207,437,434,435,436,18004,438,164748,146,85,46,21316],"class_list":["post-644875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-3d-printing","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-biomaterials","tag-design","tag-earth-architecture","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-temporary-pavilions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}