Architectural production was long since wrested from the domain of the hand drawing, much to the dismay of older architects that trained on the drawing board and never invested the time in learning CAD.
Divorced from the means of production their last refuge has been the hand sketch which they imperiously hand down to minions to work-up. All they can do is secretly regret their helplessness as their baby is taken from their creative pap to be nourished in the CAD incubator never to be directly shaped by the creator again.
Well the 3 Doodler from Wobbleworks might well be what they have been waiting for. Read more
Images: Foster and Partners.
The aspiration to 3d print buildings has been with us for a few years now, but Foster + Partners, working with the European Space Agency, are planning to print a moon base with the technology.
The idea is that an inflatable dome will be landed on the moon in a tubular rocket module. Once the dome is inflated it becomes the support structure over which a protective structure would be printed from Regolith, a material readily found on the moon. The rocket module would remain as the entrance to the base. Read more
As part of its collection exploring mythology and design, the Pompidou has recently acquired “Leviathan”, a piece designed by Neri Oxman working in collaboration with Craig Carter and Joe Hicklin.
Leviathan, is a mythical creature that features several times in the Book of Job, where some of its physical characteristics are described. It is these descriptions that were used as inspiration to create this piece of the same name, conceived as flexible body armour for the human torso. Read more
Photos: Omote 3d.
This blog has been monitoring developments in 3d printers as it is a technology capable of changing the way architects work. The idea of 3d scanning an object that can then be transformed and printed out is an aspect of the technology that will also be very useful to architects.
Although the undergraduate class I taught explored some of the architectural implications of this this technology with one of its inventors ten years ago, it is only relatively recently that it’s use is becoming more mainstream.
The 3d printing booth, billed as the worlds first, is part of an exhibition / pop-up shop, and is a good example of what is to come. For the first time, you can go into the shop, get scanned and have a miniature statue of yourself printed before your eyes. Read more
Corset: Eva Poulopoulou, Eleftheria Xanthouli, Loukia Tsafoulia.
Over the weekend I went to the 3d Print Show which was held in London. It had exhibitions and stands from several manufacturers of 3d print machines, software companies, bureau printers, researchers and users such as product designers and artists.
Whilst it is still relatively early days yet for the printing technology, the explosion of creativity that it will release has already been detonated. I have shown a few snaps of objects displayed. Read more
