Hypar Dome: Stereotomy 2.0's experiments on 3D-printed stereotomic domes

The present contribution proposes the Hypar Dome (G.Fallacara, 2017-2019) project and consequent reflection on the relationship between stereotomy and stereolithography, two processes apparently at odds, but united by the same aim: the realization of three-dimensional solids to assemble. Stereotomy is the discipline of building in cut stone, the technique (or rather the art) of removing material, in order to create stone blocks, geometrically refined, that allow the construction of elements and architectural systems of triple value: aesthetic, static and functional. Stereolithography is the technique that makes possible to create objects by adding material by overlapping layers. The term Stereo, in common between the two techniques, indicates the purpose of the technique or the creation of solid-volumetric objects created mutually: by removal of matter or by addition of matter. The two techniques, in the sense of exploitation of the raw material, could be complementary and integrative. Specifically, if, by Stereolithography, we mean additive manufacturing or 3D printing through the stratification and solidification of semi-fluid material composed of specific mortar, it is useful to reason on the reuse of stone processing waste for the inert part of the mortar. For this Hypar Dome, and in general the Architectural Hypar System, is described as one of the possible design reflections that today use these techniques to generate complex spatial configurations, and above all as one of the solutions updating the ancient stereotomic discipline.