A sustainable wall made from materials generated from the sugar refining process. The robotically extruded structure explores how calcium carbonate and bagasse waste, by-products of the sugar-refining process at Tate & Lyle, can be transformed and scaled-upinto and architectural wall prototype. The material and geometric features arehighly ornamental, offering important thermal and acoustic properties forindoor spaces. The complex surface morphology was produced with the use of novel self-generative computational designs and digital fabrication, which in turn suggest future outdoor applications as ‘scaffolds for inhabitation’ where ridges and crevices can be occupied by plants and wildlife, helping them to thrive within an urban environment.

Calcareous Arabesque is a 4m high and 2m width proto-architectural wall designed and fabricated for the Waste Age exhibition at the Design Museum in London. The aim of the project was to examine the roleof design in how we maintain our current anthropogenic system within planetarylimits by prolonging material cycles. The wall was subdivided into 4 juxtaposed panels, each constructed in three layers. The back layer made of timber studs acted as a structural support that delivered loading weight to the floor. Bagasse, a by-product fromsugarcane processing, was vacuum bonded to the back layer to form a middlelayer. A final top layer was made of a robotically extruded waste composite – Cal-X - that was based on a precipitated calcium carbonate- rich material that is a byproduct of the refining process at Tate & Lyle Sugars in London.

The production of a designed object that consideredcircular materiality confirmed that industrial ecology is embedded into alarger complex system that includes social and cultural factors. Against themore common rough and unpolished aesthetic of recycled ‘eco’ products used inthe built environment, the proposed surface morphology was conceived to have explicit ornamental features. At the same time this created thermal and acoustic qualities for future applications in indoor spaces.

To fulfil the brief of a high-resolution material, Cal-X was developed using biopolymer binders to enhance printability and finesse of the final outcome.

‍

The appearance of the Calcareous Arabesque follows a multi-scale, eclectic, yet integrated logic of design. Themacro-geometry of the wall mimics the form of a curtain as it is an abstractfigure that is readable from the distance. Different from the ‘petrified’ look of cementitious wall ornaments and bas-reliefs of the Renaissance, the textural folds of the curtain feel soft and dynamic via the presence of curves and diagonal lines.

‍

Whilst the asymmetric stress lines of the ‘hanging’ folds follow the compositional logic of a contrapposto, the overall form follows a mannerist tradition of what could be considered a flattened figura serpentinata that convolutes within the liminal boundary of the wall. The meso-geometry, on the other hand,is articulated in a continuous meandering of extruded ‘lamellae’ that densify in a continuous gradient of curves from top to bottom. This is explicitly Baroque in its gesture, featuring a complexity and intricacy of motifs that create a theatrical backdrop in space. This scale can be perceived mostly inclose proximity when the details of the geometric depth immerses the viewer ina tactile experience of the wall.

At this point the micro-scale becomes evident through the porosity and colouration of the material that is inherently impure,hybrid, and even scatological. Very different from the glow of Renaissance and Mannerist marble or Baroque gold, both high-end materials, the proposed Cal-x composite is derived from a discarded substance that gains value through the sophistication of the design. It reveals an intricate matte finishing that resembles plaster laces in Byzantine or Islamic decorations: a calcareous arabesque.

The vacuum forming of the bagasse layer and the robotic extrusion of Cal-X were carried out by the B-Made team at UCL Here East.

Links toarticles:

‍

Meng, J.; Alnaeb, D.; Salmane, A.K.; Devadass, P.; Cruz, M.; Parker, B. 'A robotically extruded sugar waste composite for a circular biomateriality in architecture'.  In Structures and Architecture A Viable Urban Perspective?. CRC Press, 2022

‍

Parker, B.; Cruz, M. 'Calcareous Arabesque, UK / Calcium Carbonate'. In Construction and Design Manual: 3D Printing and Material Extrusion in Architecture (eds. Kostas Grigoriadis and Guan Lee). DOM Publishers, 2024

Credits:

Team: Brenda Parker, Marcos Cruz with Yao Yao Meng

Collaboration: Anete Salmane, Pradeep Devadass, Dali Alnaeb, James Lawrence

B-Made support: Peter Scully, Mark Burrows, Vincent Huyghe

Sponsor: Tate & Lyle Sugars / John Kerr and Clara Aymerich

Exhibition curators (Waste Age exhibition at the Design Museum): Gemma Curtis, Justin McGuirk

Year: 2021