Architecture that will be. A thesis on the Minet El Bassal District in Alexandria, between Tradition and Innovation, during the 'Third Industrial Revolution'

The emerging impact on the planet of 3D printing, at all levels, doesn’t seem to limit itself to the simple modification of the traditional means of production, indicating a deeper and far more diffuse transformation, referred to by some as the “third industrial revolution”. 3D printing has become a process accessible to everyone. Up until a few years ago, in fact, those who built a company and produced, for example, spare parts for the automotive supply sector or for electronic devices, were considered the pioneers of their respective fields; while today, the true pioneers of modern craftsmanship are common people that, to fulfill their needs, autonomously build what they need. Those are the so-called makers. Once he has designed a tridimensional model, a maker can take advantage of 3D printing in different ways, some of which will be listed right now, while the others will be treated in deeper detail in the following paragraphs: the purchase and/or the building of a personal printer; the employment of share printing by non-profit associations like Fablab, Maker-spaces, Hacker; the use of Internet for direct contact with companies that develop personalized printing also for private production. “The true revolution is not the development of technology, but its democratization: to make it accessible to an enormous group of people who can experience it and improve it”, as said by Chris Anderson, former director of Wired magazine, author of the book “The Long Tail” and editor of the essay “Makers: The New Industrial Revolution”. “Today we have instruments like the world wide web to help us: the inventor of today isn’t an isolated genius anymore, as he can make use of the joint effort of other individuals. In its workshop, instead of a plane, a buzz saw and a drill, we would see the inevitable computer, on whose screen the item takes shape, and a three-dimensional printer”. In this sense, 3D printing is revolutionizing not only the world of fashion and design, but also the universes of the construction industry and of architecture. In fact, one of the most respected “contemporary masters”, Norman Foster, won an international contest launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to design, through the use of a 3D printer, a lunar outpost capable of hosting four people, employing regolith as a construction unit, that is, dust, soil, broken rock, and other related materials present on the Moon. In China, the creations of the multinational corporation WinSun are causing quite a sensation: after realizing in recent years “10 houses in 24 hours”, and printing an 1100 square meters villa. The incredible feat has been achieved with a giant 3D printer – 32 meters of length, 10 of width and 6,6 of height – in which, as a construction unit, has been employed a mix of recycled dumping materials, like fiberglass, steel, concrete and special additives. Allowing a saving of materials between 30% and 60%, and a saving of building time between 50% and 70%. Holland is today the main European innovator of 3D architecture. Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars has devised a system that will allow the production of base elements of approximately 9×13,5 meters that will constitute the model of residential buildings. For its manufacturing, a sand compound will be employed as construction unit, mixed to a bonding agent of new conception that will make it sturdier than concrete. In Italy, the company WASP (acronym of World's Advanced Saving Project), has realized printers that operate through a process of additive manufacturing. The aim of these devices, called BigDelta, is to realize echo-compatible houses with a limited power consumption, with available natural materials like clay. Besides the advantages of reduction of energetic consumption and emissions, of fast building times, contained costs and easy adaptability to different situations, the research is also moving in the elaboration of new materials to substitute concrete, that are more ecological and sustainable. The thesis project, carried out by Valentina Sapio, with the relation of the Prof. Arch. Claudio Gambardella (SUN “Luigi Vanvitelli” –Aversa), the correlation of the Prof. Arch. Fabio Naselli (UNI Kore – Enna) and the referee of the Prof. Mohamed Assem Hanafi (Dep. of Architectures, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alexandria), concentrates on the requalification of the industrial district of Minet El Bassal in Alexandria. The proposal of project focuses, besides the urban intervention project to redevelop the surrounding district, on a tower, placed inside one of the seven buildings that comprise the area that accommodates the Fablab. Realized entirely with the use of 3D printing, the tower, that recalls the ancient lighthouse of Alexandria, and in line with the already existing skyline formed by the minarets, is conceived with materials that are typical of the Egyptian buildings on the rivers of Nile (with fire-bricks in straw and clay), that is a natural paste made up of clay, straw and adhesives. Intervening both from an evocative volumetric point of view, and in the use of materials in the full respect of the pre-existent, melting tradition and innovation. Ideally, the same Fablab, recalling another important concept, that is, the concept of self-building, and another value intrinsic of Egyptian culture, realizes the tower. Examining the study, the works and the thought of Egyptian architect, Hassan Fathy: “The quality and the values inherent the traditional answer of the man to the atmosphere (on the environmental challenges), should be preserved without renouncing to scientific progress. Science can be applied to several aspects of our job, if, at the same time, it is subordinated to philosophy, faith and spirituality”..