Visualizing History: A 3D-Printed Journey To The Belgian Coastline During WWI
You don’t need to be a history buff to appreciate this model of the Belgian coastline during World War 1. Based on authentic aerial photographs from the time, it’s a faithful recreation of what the coastline must’ve looked like, from military defenses down to the location of each sand dune. Read on to discover how Materialise engineers made the project a reality.
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Recreating A Virtual City With Multicolor 3D Printing
Brace Yourself Games is an indie video game studio based in Vancouver, Canada. For the launch of their city-building simulation game, Industries of Titan, they wanted to present their concept in a more original way — and used 3D printing to bring the game to life! We spoke to Antoine Lendrevie, Art Director at Brace Yourself Games.
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Recreating Leuven Town Hall In Intricate Detail Using 3D Printing And 100% Re-Used Powder
Leuven is a hotbed for innovation, renowned for its world-famous university and scientific and research-based institutions. The city is also prominent for its drive towards sustainability, gaining accolades such as the European Green Leaf Award (EGLA) and the title of European Capital of Innovation (iCapital) in the last few years.
Stad Leuven is constantly investigating ways to combine innovation and climate-change initiatives to improve the lives of residents, typically working with local suppliers and businesses that share their ethos. That’s why they contacted our parent company, Materialise, to help with their latest project, an intricate 3D-printed model of Leuven’s Town Hall.
Leuven Town Hall: a gothic masterpiece
Leuven Town Hall (Stadhuis in Dutch) is over 500 years old, so it’s normal that the building needs a bit of a renovation. Certain areas will have improved accessibility, while other structures will be worked on in the future. The restoration plan was the inspirat
3D-Printed Molds For Special Concrete Pillars Brings Revolutionary Sustainable House One Step Closer
Sustainability, environmentalism, and climate change are subjects at the forefront of hearts and minds across the planet. Recent events, from forest fires and floods to record weather temperatures and shifting ecosystems, indicate that we must make a concerted effort to come up with sustainable solutions to global issues. One such problem is providing adequate shelter to urban slum families in sub-standard housing in Africa. What could help solve this crisis? The Tridealhouse project.
Tridealhouse — a triangular house that stimulates happy living, urban farming, and sustainable utilities to help tackle urban poverty — solves five slum household deprivations as defined by the UN-Habitat while providing food and micro jobs. To confront such wide-ranging issues, this ambitious project needed more than just theoretical knowledge, it also required specific materials and expertise. That’s why the Trideal team contacted our parent company, Materialise, to collaborate on making special, 3D-
Castles In The Air? How 3D Printing Elevates Architecture
From aerospace to mass customized wearables, 3D printing brings the house down in so many business verticals — including architecture.
Imagine: The architect sits at their drafting table, their head filled with lofty designs. When it comes to helping their clients and partners see what’s in their mind’s eye, sketches and virtual renderings can only get them so far.
That’s where 3D printing comes in: one of the technology’s benefits is that it can expand design freedom.
Let’s look at four times architects were able to add new dimensions to their designs.
Sagrada Familia
A 3D model of a Sagrada Familia cathedral presented in the 3D printing software Magics by Materialise.
The team working on the world-famous Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona has been using 3D printing since 2001. But even back in the late 19th century, the architect Antoni Gaudí understood the importance of moving from 2D to 3D and would often handcraft models of the elaborate building to get a be
Miniature, 3D-Printed City Hall of Antwerp Shows off Every Last Detail
The city hall of Antwerp is one of the city’s architectural crown jewels. Dating back from the 16th century, it hadn’t undergone significant restoration for the last 60 years, and the grand old building was starting to show signs of its age. The municipality of Antwerp has set an ambitious restoration project in motion, which was explained and displayed at Paviljoen Antwerpen Morgen. Held at MAS, the exhibition covered the biggest urban development projects the city has planned for the future. And at center stage was a giant 3D-printed model of the renovated city hall!
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Top 4 Benefits of 3D Printing Models for Architects
When 3D printing architectural models, you combine the precision of virtual 3D modeling with the tangibility of a physical object. Architects used to create scale models mostly out of wood or foam, but more and more of them are embracing the benefits of 3D printing their newest designs. Read on to learn why architects are joining the 3D printing revolution!
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A Cathedral of 3D-Printed Transparent Resin
Using 3D Printing to print architectural models is nothing new, but these models of the Šibenik Cathedral of St. James 3D-printed in transparent resin are breathtaking!
A replica of this UNESCO World Heritage Site in Croatia was created for an exhibition and 3D-printed in transparent resin and the results are stunningly detailed.
Read on to know more about this creation and the fascinating measurement process for the 3D design, drones included!
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How 3D Printing is Changing Architecture: Learning from the Sagrada Familia Team in Barcelona
The world-famous Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona has been using 3D printing since 2001 to continue the work of the great designer Antoni Gaudí. This modernist architect was not able to finish the work during his life, so the Sagrada Familia consortium has to design much of the cathedral themselves. With the assistance of 3D printing, Gaudí’s glorious magnum opus is well on its way to completion. (more…)
6 Amazing 3D Printed Large Scale Construction Projects
3D printers are often associated with small, high-value, low-volume items. Since 1980s 3D printing has continually challenged the boundaries of what is possible – and how large a 3D printer can print. Groups of architects have set out to make history: they believe that 3D printing can transform the way buildings and monuments are made. They strive achieve large 3D printer projects such as houses, statues, cars, and furniture. So here are our 6 favorite large-scale 3D printing projects that are currently pushing the limits of what is possible.
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