The low-tech cooler is a project I developed with the global design agency, Entreautre. We started with a simple principle inspired by traditional practices: a porous terracotta container filled with water. 

Thanks to a ventilation system (WEEE), the airflow in contact with the wet surface allows water to evaporate in order to produce cold air.

To achieve an interesting effect, we sought to increase the wet wall surface in contact with ventilated air as much as possible. Ceramic 3D printing allowed us to test complex volumes such as differential growth. The natural process of differential growth was also a coherent aesthetic to produce a manifesto product in order to share the vision behind the process.

I designed this structure with the software Grasshopper. It's a visual 3D programming language linked to Rhino 3D that allows the achievement of complex and parametric pieces that couldn't be done with traditional CAD programs.

I learned the software by myself to achieve the program in order to print the final shape. This shape came from all the different constraints I was confronted with:

The material: The lining thickness, the porosity.

The method of conception: Height, material volume contained in the printing pipe, printing time, clearance angle.

The metrics of minimal performances: Structure resistance, water volume, surface exchange between ceramic airflow and water.

I worked with Luc Dauphin, a mechanical engineer, and Bastien Pyon, Fablab's CEO, who guided me in dealing with those constraints.