MapTech celebrates a juxtaposition of low-tech and high-tech innovations that makes the system deployable, agile, and easy to integrate into local craftsmanship cultures, ensuring accessibility even for people with limited technical expertise. The configuration of ClayPonic combines and reintroduces a 4,000-year-old practice in pottery and clay coiling and non-soil farming technique in a modern and efficient way.
Ceramic 3D printed water reservoir prototypes
Additive Manufacturing Technology, the industrial application of 3D printing, has spurred materials explorations, leading to the development of clay hydroponic farming systems. The computer and printer make it possible to use “particles of light, jets of water, and bits of data” to transform dust into utilitarian outcomes and products. Such transformation involves high means of technical innovation in additive manufacturing and mundane materials such as clay, engaging opposing ends of the technological spectrum. Such a practical fabrication process comprises successive incremental deposition of clay paste, layer by layer, directly driven from 3-dimensional data.
This seamless manufacturing workflow, which spans digital fabrication and machine craft, made it possible to efficiently produce custom, intricate, and modular multilevel ceramic substrates capable of accommodating plant growth. The rapid prototyping capabilities of the technology make it more adaptable, allowing for effective custom adjustments to meet the requirements and circumstances of clay hydroponics. Localization of production and material sourcing, in alignment with the sustainable additive manufacturing practices, addresses issues of supply chain and contributes to the affordability and adoption of farming technology.
This diagram presents hydroponics as a projective and resistance architecture made for the future.