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Additive manufacturing is one of many digital fabrication techniques that are opening up new design possibilities for architecture and disrupting traditional modes of material production. To address this shift, architects need new strategies to exploit emerging (and future) geometric, material and/or project delivery possibilities that are associated with file-to-factory methods, on-site / off-site fabrication, prototyping, and efficient physical properties facilitated by increasing simulation and design automation, just to name a few. Whilst a wide range of additive manufacturing research is represented in architectural design literature, the majority of this work has sought to explore the technology at relatively small scales, with the viability of scaling up being a key issue. Furthermore, after decades of limited materials and processes, emerging trends in multi-material printing, expanded material palettes, and enhanced machining options with large-scale robotics, are transforming how and what we can construct. We received a number of high-quality manuscripts from researchers around the world and presented within this Special Issue are what we believe to be state-of-the-art explorations into the application of additive manufacturing in architecture. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our genuine acknowledgement to all the authors and reviewers for their co-operation in providing the content for this issue. We wish all readers an enjoyable and informative reading experience of the leading edge, international research and development projects featured here.

Additive manufacturing is one of many digital fabrication techniques that are opening up new design possibilities for architecture and disrupting traditional modes of material production. To address this shift, architects need new strategies to exploit emerging (and future) geometric, material and/or project delivery possibilities that are associated with file-to-factory methods, on-site / off-site fabrication, prototyping, and efficient physical properties facilitated by increasing simulation and design automation, just to name a few. Whilst a wide range of additive manufacturing research is represented in architectural design literature, the majority of this work has sought to explore the technology at relatively small scales, with the viability of scaling up being a key issue. Furthermore, after decades of limited materials and processes, emerging trends in multi-material printing, expanded material palettes, and enhanced machining options with large-scale robotics, are transforming how and what we can construct. We received a number of high-quality manuscripts from researchers around the world and presented within this Special Issue are what we believe to be state-of-the-art explorations into the application of additive manufacturing in architecture. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our genuine acknowledgement to all the authors and reviewers for their co-operation in providing the content for this issue. We wish all readers an enjoyable and informative reading experience of the leading edge, international research and development projects featured here.

A comparison of induced contamination predictions and measurements is presented for JAXA＆apos;s Micro-Particles Capturer and Space Environment Exposure Device (MPAC&SEED), which was attached to the exterior of the Russian Service Module on the International Space Station (ISS). Material outgassing and thruster plume induced contamination was calculated using analytical and semi-empirical models developed by the Boeing Space Environments Team in Houston. Contamination depth predictions show good agreement (within a factor of 3) compared to measured contamination levels on the flight hardware. Induced contamination predictions are also presented for the next MPAC&SEED experiment to be deployed on the Japanese Experiment Module., Original contains color illustrations, Meeting Information: International Symposium on "SM/MPAC & SEED Experiment" (International Congress Center EPOCHAL TSUKUBA, 10-11 March 2008)