Large Scale 3D printing
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Shane Fitzpatrick
Mar 9, 2013, 2:31:49 PM3/9/13
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Since my background is in architecture, my main interest in 3D printing is in large applications. In researching my thesis, which is on additive manufacturing in architecture and design, I've come across some really interesting 3D printed applications. The race to build the first 3D printed house has 3 main contenders so far, although the Landscape House isn't purely 3D printed.
The Protohouse is an algorithmically generated laser sintered house composed of fibres of material deposited along lines of force. The original proposal won't be built but a reduced form is expected to be built this summer. One of the architects, Gilles Retsin doesn't consider the Landscape house to be a 3D printed house because it isn't purely 3D printed.
The Landscape House was originally proposed for a competition in the west of Ireland but, since it didn't win the competition, is looking for funding elsewhere. It's a triangular mobius strip house made from Enrico Dini's D-Shape printer produced panels filled with reinforced concrete.
DUS Architects, who built the KamerMaker in collaboration with Ultimaker, announced recently their plan to print a canal house in Amsterdam. It's planned as an ongoing process, the facade printed first and the rooms printed one by one after that. It's expected to start this year and is seeking volunteers and funding now.
I think the Canal House is the most likely to be a model for the realistic use of 3D printing in architecture. The room by room phased construction is a sensible use of a waterproof building material and the idea of using recycled bottles and bioplastics has a certain appeal from an environmental perspective. It's also the closest to my thesis project so I have a personal fondness for it. The Landscape house is a workable concept in its use of printed formwork an the pragmatic understanding of the untested structural properties of the sandstone like material produced by the D-Shape. I'm not sure about the Protohouse. I really liked the alien look of it when I first saw it. A new way of building lets the architects reinvent what a house looks like.
What other large scale 3D printing applications are there?
conr
Mar 10, 2013, 10:20:13 AM3/10/13
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Wow...lot to read over there, but some really good content to mull over.
The cost per sq ft using additive manufacture is simply to high to be economical, and although delivers an exceptional astetic, it will be a while yet before it is commercially viable.
What do you mean by large scale....big things or many of them?
You are probably already familiar with Neri Oxman from MIT media labs, she seems to talk a great game, but can't find any large scale projects she can be attributed.
Another interesting concept is a hybrid of additive manufacture, with modular construction....being able to shape the structure to meet the surroundings, but reducing the inherent cost of custom builds with a lower cost (per unit) component interior.
Gilles Retsin aversion to the 'pure' 3d printed house could be construed as somewhat idealistic even the most advanced manufacturing industries use multiple processing techniques for components, especially high tolerance parts.
The cost per sq ft using additive manufacture is simply to high to be economical, and although delivers an exceptional astetic, it will be a while yet before it is commercially viable.
Conor Duke
Mar 10, 2013, 2:54:21 PM3/10/13
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Contour construction......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehnzfGP6sq4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Good ten minute TED talk on 3d construction.
Still not convinced, as the setup costs will always be higher than traditional methods.
But has definitely coloured my perspective
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Shane Fitzpatrick
Mar 13, 2013, 8:50:57 AM3/13/13
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Those are good links, thanks. The TED talk puts forward a slightly worrying prospect. As much as this technology could be used to create great architecture and infintely unique buildings, it could easily be put to use by unscrupulous developers churning out the same poor design as we have now in the housing estates and boom time apartment developments, but in a way that doesn't even provide trademen with jobs. So all the negatives of developer led building without the meager benefits of it. It's a pessimistic outlook but it's probably realistic given the maximal profit, minimal cost model that was so prevalent in this country over the past decades.
I've come across Neri Oxman before, she's written about this before but as far as I know hasn't been able to put it into practice yet. She has mainly produced experiments in art and design such as in this article.
When I say large scale, I mean buildings or parts of buildings. I'm doing my thesis on additive manufacturing applied to architecture. The project is an additive manufacturing factory in Dublin city centre, quite similar to DUS Architects plans with the Canal House (although I chose the project well before I read about that one.) At the moment I'm designing a modular construct that works with a steel structure, allowing the creation of workshops from 3D printed parts and the recreation of them once they're no longer needed. So the project incorporates a recycling element for old printed parts, prototypes and household plastic waste. Unlike Retsin, I think that 3D printing, as it is now, could only be viable for construction as a composite system, using other materials in combination to produce a structurally stable building.
Cost-wise, I think you're partially right. It's much too expensive to use right now on a large scale. That seems to be the reason that the Protohouse's budget won't be released, I'd say it's prohibitively expensive. But, as the process is tested and refined, costs will come down. The real saving is in the amount of material saved by printing it, rather than having un recyclable waste going to landfill.
conr
Mar 16, 2013, 8:49:38 AM3/16/13
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Yea, cost is a fsctor...but the first steam engines cost the price of half a house!
Conor Duke
May 23, 2013, 7:30:16 PM5/23/13
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Hey Shane,
Check out the solar print house!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R1CBFBxuew&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Conor Duke
+353 85 1207729
On 16 Mar 2013 12:49, "conr" <cono...@gmail.com> wrote:
Yea, cost is a fsctor...but the first steam engines cost the price of half a house!
http://www.quora.com/History-of-Technology/How-much-did-a-steam-engine-sell-for-back-in-the-early-1800s
Shane Fitzpatrick
May 24, 2013, 4:23:49 PM5/24/13
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That's pretty interesting, I hadn't seen that. It's a great example of the strengths of 3D printing with the array of unique pieces. It goes to show that parametric design holds a lot of promise in conjunction with 3D printing as there's the possibility of generating all the unique components without having to design each one of them. Cool stuff.
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