The newest pour from Starbucks is a 3D printed store that’s set to open this week in Texas. The giant coffee chain with over 17,000 locations across the U.S. says the new drive-thru opening Friday in Brownsville will be its first in the U.S. using the technology.
I’m guessing that either (a) the method of concrete extrusion or (b) the process the particular company uses doesn’t permit for what I’ve generally heard in the plastic 3D printing world called “bridging” — being able to create some limited degree of overhang to create arches. If you look at the building, there are no arches — the places with windows are gaps reaching to the roof in the 3D printed wall.
Normally, with a brick building that has load-bearing walls, you can see a different pattern of bricks directly above a window, where the mason has to go out of their way to support the gap.
kagis
I think that that structure is called a lintel.
I’d think that one route to achieve that might be, during the printing process, sticking some kind of metal support above the window during the printing process, even if the extruded concrete alone doesn’t permit for it. But if they can’t do that as things stand, it’d explain why they might not want to have a lot of windows.
Generally they lay steel plates at certain preprogrammed intervals to place in windows. A worker sits on standby while it pauses a few seconds to just place the part. Not a difficult feat. Just laziness or frugalness on the construction.