
since 2016
HIVE WALL
Hive Wall experiments the use of parametric design and additive manufacturing tools to demonstrate the potential of architectural application of ceramic components for facade cladding. The challenge was to define a system for ventilated walls in which the size of the openings is customised allowing wider or narrower openings in accordance to the need of ventilation, shadowing or desired visual constrains. The bricks apertures and geometry are composed by three non-uniform truncated pyramids produced with stoneware. The assembly is done by horizontal layering that is facilitated by the trimmed formal configuration of the bricks that result in a stable interconnecting and docking system.
The prototype corresponds to a section of approximately one square meter, composed by 57 bricks of 10 cm depth, in which the central point corresponds to the maximum opening of the wall, which progressively decreases towards its limits.



Research team: Paulo J. S. Cruz, Bruno Figueiredo (coordination); João Moreira (design); Samuel Ribeiro, João Carvalho, João Ribeiro (development and technical support).