Capabilities To Restore The Past
Restoration work on historical landmarks, as buildings, houses, among others, is a very tedious job, at the same time, extremely expensive. To protect historical buildings at a reasonable cost is becoming harder and traditional facade design is towards a dying art. Many modern cities have lost the architectural charm of the past; glass and steel have replaced intricate facades and ornamental classics.
However, new technology exists that can bring the craft of ornate architecture into the modern age, and at a cost that could save buildings from demolition. Digital tools are now the medium towards artistic expressions. One of them is 3D printing technology, with the capacity to restore and recreate historic urban architecture that can be lost.
EDG New York, an architecture, engineering and consulting firm, is inspired to formulate a financially viable process to help restore buildings under threat. With 3D printing, architectural sculpture can be digitized and render them into printable objects. In other words, modern technology meets traditional craft.
Even then, in spite of 3D printing technology, the main drawback in restoration was the cost. Solid 3D-printed parts remained expensive. EDG went for plastic moulds that can produce intricate copies on site, within a day. Laser scanning software allows EDG to recreate anything with ease, from colonnades and cornices to a whole building. Architects anywhere could reprint the same mould from their digital catalogue of parts. There is now the freedom to create captivating, engaging and unique facades. EDP says that even with costly projects, with their method of construction, ornamentation can be designed and incorporated into the facade without exceeding the budget.
Since 3D printing in architecture has been growing in the last decade, what other structures have been 3D printing-inspired? Well, whole 3D printed house have been built. Some were in Russia and China, and a micro-house was recently built in Amsterdam. The first 3D-printed room in 2013, the Digital Grotesque in Zurich, 11 tonnes and 11-feet tall, boasted beautiful baroque detail with millions of micro-textures. There are also plans to 3D print a one-bedroom house at this year’s Milan Design Week. Also 3D -printed were some remains of the siege of Palmyra in Syria after the ISIS destroyed much of its priceless treasures. 3D printing has indeed set a permanent foothold in the realm of architecture and even in archeology.
Printing Complex Parts Quickly and Accurately
For your ideas and prototype models, contact us at 3D Composites. At 3D Composites we are able to turn your ideas into reality through 3D printing. With our professional line of Stratasys 3D printers including the Fortus 450, and strong production-grade thermoplastics, we are able to print complex parts quickly and accurately, creating functional parts from the design phase through to production.
