178 3D Printed Earth Bricks Wrap a Living Olive Tree in Holon

A full-scale pavilion built from 178 robotically 3D printed earth bricks has opened around a living olive tree at Design Museum Holon. The structure, named BUSTAN — Hebrew for 'orchard' — treats the olive tree (Olea europaea) as its primary client.

The Material Topology Research Lab (MTRL) at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology developed the pavilion together with the Weizmann Tree Lab for the exhibition The Circle, on view from September 2026 to March 2027.

How Do the Bricks Serve the Tree?

The bricks are made mainly from locally sourced soil mixed with bio-based plant fibers and mineral binders. Each brick is digitally designed and robotically printed with a specific geometry and surface texture, giving it an ecological function related to shade, thermal mass, airflow, moisture, or habitat.

The pavilion forms a porous wall that creates a microclimate around the tree's canopy and root zone. Certain bricks shade the roots and reduce solar exposure. Thick earthen walls absorb heat during the day and release it at night. Openings near the top promote passive stack ventilation, and the layered soil profile in the planting zone retains moisture through capillary action.

The fibers within the paste improve structural and thermal properties while reducing weight. Embedded bamboo tubes and perforations turn parts of the wall into a porous habitat for plants, insects, birds, small mammals, fungi, and biocrusts.

What Is the Design Logic Behind It?

BUSTAN draws on agricultural practices from the drylands of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, where shade, soil, water, shelter, and local materials were used to create microclimates for cultivation. The project translates this environmental logic through computational design and robotic fabrication.

The earth is developed into an extrudable paste and deposited layer by layer by a robotic arm through a custom nozzle. Each brick type follows its own toolpath, producing differentiated forms and surfaces according to its ecological role. The process included local soil collection, material testing, binder development, robotic programming, and fabrication at the Technion Advanced Construction Center (TACC).

As the earthen structure weathers and becomes inhabited, the project proposes architecture as part of an evolving living system rather than a fixed object.

Who Built It?

Ofer Asaf led research and the project, with Dr. Lior Skoury as computation lead. Principal investigators are Prof. Aaron Sprecher (MTRL, Technion), Prof. Arnon Bentur (TACC, Technion), and Prof. Tamir Klein (Tree Lab, Weizmann Institute of Science). The research team included Pavel Larianovsky, Ohad Meyuhas, Ofer Finkelstein, and Noam Spivak; fabrication was carried out by Aviv Shabo, Lihi Dunsky, Shoham Oz, and Omer Rabinovich, with Hazem Madah as structural consultant. Talia Janover and Lior Hermoni curated The Circle.

The project received support from Technion Sustainability Frontier, the Azrieli Foundation, the European Innovation Council (EIC), and Design Museum Holon.

As a full-scale prototype within MTRL's research into material ecology, robotic fabrication, and landscape, BUSTAN tests how computational tools and local materials can support tree cultivation and multispecies habitat — a model its team positions for architecture that cohabits with other species rather than excluding them.