The effectiveness of 3D concrete printing technology in architectural design: different corner-wall combinations in 3D printed elements and geometric form configurations in residential buildings

3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) is an increasingly popular modern technology in the construction industry. There is a research gap in the basic geometric form decisions of 3DCP in building production about corner-wall combinations and the potential of chamfered corner turns. In this study, it is aimed to provide solutions to this research gap by performing digital fabrication of different architectural design configurations. Additionally, different chamfered turning performances were investigated in relation to the turning difficulties of the nozzle in corner-wall combinations. In this context, a lab-scale 3D printer was used with a cement-based material for the synthesis of prototypes. As a result of 3DCP, comparative analyses were conducted with building evaluation parameters. The obtained results revealed that in corner-wall combinations, chamfered space (r = 5 cm) was the most advantageous in terms of buildability and mass producibility. In geometric form configurations, the chamfered octagon showed optimum behaviour. In terms of buildability, a chamfered octagon offers a 4.2% advantage over a standard octagon. From a cost perspective, chamfered octagon provides a 20% advantage over chamfered square and 46.6% advantage over octagon. In terms of mass producibility, the chamfered octagon is on par with the chamfered hexagon and outperformed the chamfered square by 16.6%.