Holcim AG of Switzerland is supporting Striatus, a first-of-its-kind arched bridge built for the European Cultural Centre’s “Time Space Existence” exhibition in Venice. The structure establishes a new language for concrete, placing 3D-printed material only where needed.
Achieving strength through geometry, the engineering scheme produces a bridge standing solely through compression without reinforcement or binders. Using advanced technologies, from computational design and engineering to robotic production of pier and deck elements, it revives traditional master builders’ techniques. Striatus is the work of the ETH Zurich Block Research Group and Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group, London, teaming with Austrian concrete printing specialist incremental3D.