Ruxin Xie

Ruxin (pronounced as Ru-shin) is a researcher, designer, and lifelong maker. Her work lies at the intersection of art, architecture, mechanics, and robotics.  
She lives with a tabby cat named TT — Tiny Tiger. ᓚᘏᗢ

Curriculum vitae
Publications
Contact

2025
XXXBuildfest 2024Bethel, NY, USAXXIXRobotic SetupsPrinceton, NJ, USA
2023
XXVIIIThe ObservatoryCupertino, CA, USA XXVIITree House[Concept]XXVIGoogle StoreSanta Monica, CA, USAXXVCat LampCupertino, CA, USA
2022
XXIVSystems EngagementAnn Arbor, MI, USA
2021
XXIIICocoonAnn Arbor, MI, USAXXIISocial EquilibriaVenice, ItalyXXITopology Optimized Building Envelope Ann Arbor, MI, USAXXPoly-Fractal PackingAnn Arbor, MI, USAXIXPneumatic Origami Self FoldingAnn Arbor, MI, USA
2020
XVIIIDesign Ecologies of Glass[Concept]XVIIArchitecture {AI}[Concept]XVIVolumetric KnittingAnn Arbor, MI, USAXVShelf - Generative DeisignAnn Arbor, MI, USAXIVLight LeakAnn Arbor, MI, USAXIIITriByteAnn Arbor, MI, USAXIIMantaAnn Arbor, MI, USAXIHoursteelAnn Arbor, MI, USA
2019
XContext. Community. Co-op. Core[Concept]IXPlayscapeAnn Arbor, MI, USAVIIIExquisite LampAnn Arbor, MI, USAVIIKnitted InflatablesAnn Arbor, MI, USA
2018
VIEngageAnn Arbor, MI, USAVFantastic Beasts And Here They Are[Concept]IVAnimation and Architecture[Concept]
2017 and Earlier
IIISponge at Crossroad[Concept]IIBridge Church[Concept]IBirdwatching Pavilion[Concept]
Life

Drawings
Photography
Cooking




© 2017–2025 Ruxin Xie
Cocoon
Year
2020
Location
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Instructor
Arash Adel
Status
Built
Material
Terracotta Concrete
Affiliation
Taubman College University of Michigan
Course
ARCH 734 Capstone
Role
Developed a continuous toolpath generator for robotic clay-printing formwork.
Took a hands-on role in all aspects of the work—from carrying clay and mixing concrete to problem-solving alongside the team
Collaborated with researchers to co-author publications, contributing diagrams and visual materials.
Students
Mackenzie Bruce, Gabrielle Clune, Ruxin Xie
Tool Box
Rhino, Grasshopper, SuperMatterTool (SMT), KUKA KR120 6-Axis Industrial Robot
Publications:
Mozaffari, S., Bruce, M., Clune, G., Xie, R., McGee, W., and Adel, A.. 2023. Digital Design and Fabrication of Clay Formwork for Concrete Casting. Automation in Construction 154: 104969.(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2023.104969)
Bruce, M.*, Clune, G.*, Xie, R.*, Mozaffari, S., and Adel, A.. 2022. Cocoon: 3D Printed Clay Formwork for Concrete Casting. Realignments: Toward Critical Computation, Proceedings of the 41st ACADIA Conference, 400–409. CumInCAD. * Authors contributed equally to the research.(https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2021.400)




Cocoon explores creating concrete structures using robotic 3D-printed clay formwork, which reduces labor and material demands typical in complex formwork processes. By leveraging clay as a sustainable, recyclable material, this approach facilitates the production of intricate geometries that are challenging with other methods, with minimal labor for demolding.
This project investigates clay’s potential benefits as formwork, given its plasticity when wet, easy recyclability, and self-demolding capabilities due to shrinkage upon drying. The continuous bead extrusion process in 3D printing, inspired by traditional clay coil techniques, enables complex branching structures and supports for handling concrete’s hydrostatic pressure.
Right image shows selected specimens and their deformation maps from tests using 100 mm and 135 mm pour heights. We observed no formwork failure across multiple pours. Increasing the accelerator to 30g reduced deformation but weakened layer adhesion. A 100 mm pour height with 20g of accelerator offered a balance between deformation control and adhesion, and results were consistent across repeated tests. Deformation was measured by circumference change after demolding. These findings set the stage for applying the method to more complex geometries, as shown in the next case study.
Wood sculptures by Brent Collins, composed of geometrically interlinked saddle surfaces derived from a toroidal transformation of a truncated Scherk minimal surface. Photograph by Phillip Geller. Image source.

The Scherk surface (named after Heinrich Scherk) is an example of a minimal surface showing the smallest possible area for spanning its boundary [1]. Scherk described two completely embedded minimal surfaces in 1834; a doubly and a singly periodic surface. The surfaces can have many iterations according to the number of saddle branches and holes, turns around the axis, and bends towards the axis. The geometrical revolving between branches and voids and the variety of designs could provide an appropriate baseline to test our proof of concept for complex shapes. The topology of this case study is a Scherk-Collins surface generated by Carlo H. Séquin for Sculpture Generator 1 at UC Berkeley [2]. We generated a continuous Helix toolpath  for each section of the Scherk surface using Grasshopper, a visual algorithmic editor integrated into Rhinoceros’s 3D modeling framework . Integrating the toolpath into the SMT allows the clay extruder to follow the designed toolpath while continuing to extrude clay through the nozzle. 
To prevent clay’s deformation during concrete casting caused by hydrostatic pressure, we considered a few supporting scenarios
  1. Void Filled: is where the toolpath lines are parallel to each other in the void area of the structure. It forms a dense double-layered clay wall during clay printing to prevent concrete from leaking on both sides of the branches. It also creates a continuous clay extrusion path while switching between the branches. 
  2. Void Support: is the extra rib added to the void area during printing. It works with the Void Filled to reinforce the print center. 
  3. Rib Support: is the rib added to the end of each branch to improve the formwork’s overhang functionality and prevent concrete leaking and clay deformation. The Rib Support conserves the clay and reduces the printing time by providing the necessary reinforcement instead of printing two layers around the circumference.

The pour heights were adjusted from 100 mm to 50 mm between the casts to reduce the deformations . The case study’s incremental clay printing and concrete casting consisted of 13 prints with 26 consecutive concrete pours resulting in a 1.3 m height element. This process took about 9 h to complete the print and cast the Cocoon element with the dimensions 1300 mm × 267 mm × 267 mm and a wall thickness of 33 mm. The developed supporting systems created no break or overlap on the printing path, avoiding seam creation and a system vulnerable to failure. The successful fabrication of this case study demonstrated a viable process and potential for further application and adjustment of this method to create large-scale complex geometries.
The presented study was conducted as a Capstone project of the Master of Science Digital and Material Technologies at Taubman College. We want to thank Prof. Tsz Yan Ng for providing the formulation for the base concrete mixture and her guidance in tuning the accelerator admixture. We also thank many others who were, directly and indirectly involved in the project, particularly Asa Peller, Mark Meier, Austin Wiskur, and Alyssa Fellabaum.