Approaches for the Use of Rapidly Growing Willow Rods in Earth-Based Construction

Abstract This chapter investigates construction applications of natural fibres and
fast-growing plant-based materials, which can be processed into load-bearing components using specially tailored digital manufacturing technology. The sourcing and
production of the developed sustainable and recyclable freeform lightweight structures based on willow and earth are described in detail and material samples are
shown. At the end-of-life, the components can be disjoined and the composite materials in the components can be fully separated mechanically for composting, recycling
or incineration. Moreover, the developed structures were prototyped, implemented
and tested in full-scale research demonstrators at the 2023 German National Garden
Show in Mannheim (BUGA23). With this contribution we show the feasibility of
such novel robotic construction methods of biogenic materials in structural applications for the first time. The envisioned application potential lies particularly in the
new construction of residential buildings, hotels, office buildings and buildings with
similar uses.