Location: Zhangjiakou, China.

Architect: XWG Arch-Studio.

Tsinghua University’s School of Architecture, in collaboration with Zoina Land, has developed an “Automatic Masonry System by Robotic Arms” that combines bricklaying and 3D printing mortar processes to create a fully automatic smart construction method. The system has been used for the first time on an actual construction site, where a brick labyrinth garden was built in Zhangjiakou. The garden is located in Wujiazhuang Village, which features brick buildings specially designed for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The base of the garden is a circle with a diameter of 13m with irregular carved areas. Three winding brick walls form continuous drapes in plan and adopt a curved form in the vertical direction, forming a labyrinth both in vision and space. The design of the garden is based on digital generation technology, with a curved shape generated in Rhinoceros software and shaped like a flowing ribbon. The design team then used KUKA|PRC to export the movement path of the robotic arm as program codes recognizable by the robotic arm. The two robotic arms were moved seven times in total to complete the whole process, and each course has been simulated in the PRC program. A brick wall damage test was carried out to test whether it reached the standard of the design and construction specifications of the brick walls. The mortar used 425# cement, while the water-cement ratio was about 0.7, and the mortar strength was up to 45MPa. After the maintenance period, sandbags were used to destroy two experiment walls, and their strength was up to the standard of China’s specification. The construction process includes measuring, foundation construction, wall masonry, landscape construction, and ground paving, with at least two workers needed to operate the system. The robotic arm positioning calibration is conducted after each movement to ensure construction precision. After the completion of the walls, the foam surrounding is removed, and soil is refilled, and grass and bamboo are planted. Inside the wall, hollow bricks are used to pave the garden.

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