Timbuktu Manuscript Library: A Study in the Possibilities in 3D Printing on Site

ABSTRACT - Architecture has long been concerned with an integrated response to environment. Beyond the utilitarian assembly of appropriate materials and construction systems addressing various climatic conditions, architecture has continuously sought an elegant advancement of meaningful program and spatial experience in its relationship to its site. Now, traditional construction materials can be rethought for architectural purpose, providing opportunities for structural optimization, systems integration, but also architectural expression. The Manuscript Library introduced here investigates the possibilities of an on-site printed sand-based masonry block and steel hybrid structural system as a moment for tectonic expression. The system seeks to create a tension that can be read between the perceived heavy attributes of the block and the lightness of a second supporting system that is expressed, using the 3D-printed material’s limits to augment its architectural and spatial possibilities.