World's first 3D-printed arch bridge to appear in Venice (video)

In July 2021, visitors to the Venice Architecture Biennale (which opened on May 22 and will last until November) will be able to see a unique structure - the 3D-printed arch bridge Striatus, which will be built next to the Venetian Arsenal.

Striatus is a footbridge made of unreinforced, printed concrete blocks. As conceived by its creators, such structures will become elements of a closed economy, which will combine traditional masonry and advanced technologies. The strength of this bridge will be achieved exclusively due to the geometric structure of its blocks by compressing them and without the use of reinforcement, in full accordance with traditional building technologies. In addition, dry assembly without bonding materials will allow the bridge to be reused many times, significantly reducing the environmental impact of this type of structure.

The Striatus Bridge is a joint project of Holcim, Block Research Group (BRG) at the Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich, Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group (ZHACODE) and incremental-3D.