Making architectural scale models with a 3D-Printing
Martijn
Stellingwerff,
Delft University
of Technology, The Netherlands
m.c.stellingwerff@bk.tudelft.nl
Jack Breen,
Delft University
of Technology, The Netherlands
Robert
Nottrot,
Delft University
of Technology, The Netherlands
Contents
- Introduction (Making design ideas tangible)
- Exploration of new techniques
- Experienwith the 3D-printer
- Conclusions (The 3D-printer as a standard facility for students and architects)
Introduction
(Making design ideas tangible)
"Tea, Earl-Gray, Hot", that is how Captain Jean-Luc Picard materializes his beverage, right from a replicator at his starship Enterprise. Since spring 2003, students and architects at the Delft Faculty of Architecture are able to ‘materialize’ their design, right from a 3D‑printer. The technique is called Rapid Prototyping, it is not as quick and easy as the replicator from Star Trek, but it gives new insights and it enriches the way to develop and evaluate design.
Designing - giving form to new objects or environments - is largely a question of anticipating the workings of spatial and material environments, which can become ‘reality’ only by being built. Until ‘realized’ a design is essentially a figment of the designer’s imagination, although his or her ideas may be laid down and conveyed to others via specialized design media. In this way impressions of the design may be shared with clients, colleagues or other ‘actors’ in the design process.
Such products of the designer’s imaging process can be relatively abstract or begin to approach - future - reality. Form & Media research can be ‘revealing’, stimulating insights concerning preferences, working processes and the effects of products of the designer’s imagination. In the past ten years we have gained considerable practical experience with both virtual and tangible (scale) models. We have compared different techniques in conference workshops, within educational settings and in our Form & Media research group (http://www.bk.tudelft.nl/media/). The research projects ranged from the development of practical techniques and working methods to interviews and protocol analyses of designing architects.
Exploration of
new techniques
Some characteristic computer supported modeling / prototyping applications are: milling machines, knife and laser cutters, bending machines, and 3D ‘printers’. The first two categories basically are subtractive (taking material away), the third can be said to be manipulative (changing the form of an object), and the last is in principle additive (usually building up a three dimensional form in layers).
The result of such an activity can sometimes be the ‘end’ product, but in most cases there will have to be some form of (manual) finishing work (assembling parts, painting etc.). The generated form can be a ‘positive’ form, but may also be developed as a mould in which the objects or components are cast.
The above techniques can be used for making models - to various scales - but also for the benefit of creating full-scale prototypes. Of particular interest is the development and testing of building components for designs with complex geometries and more specifically non-orthogonal architecture.
A safe, clean and productive rapid prototyping technique that competes in cost and visual charm is known as 3D-printing. The technique works with a water-based liquid deposited (like in a jet-printer) on a thin layer of powder. The powder layers solidify by means of the binder liquid, the unused powder performs as a temporary support for the next layers. A typical 3D-model of a house (scale 1: 50) can be printed in two hours. This process can also produce particularly interesting results on the level of building components and details. The printer can be fed with STL and VRML files from CAD programs like AutoCAD, ProEngineer, Maya and 3D-Studio-Max. This technique allows the designer to explore and adapt both the CAAD model and the printed model. Thus a rapid design cycle can be realized, in which the physical and the virtual model influence the thought processes. (Fig. 1)
Fig. 1. The Z406 3D-printer
When the prints are ready, the buildings have to be dug up and ‘de-powdered’ with a vacuum cleaner. (Fig.2)
Fig. 2. The print is ready
Fig.3 shows 3D printed construction details (full scale model) from starch based powder (project of IBM pavillion by Renzo Piano, digital model by the Technical Design and Informatics (TO&I) group).
Experiences with
the 3D-printer
After an extensive exploration of techniques and a feasibility study, the 3D-printer was purchased in the framework of the TU-Delft project for ICT in the field of Education (ICTE, http://www.bk.tudelft.nl/icto). The Faculty of Architecture participates in ICTE with a project to integrate Drawing - Calculating - Making by means of ICT. The year 2003 was a test year in which several educational and research experiments took place. This included: combining finite element (FEM) data into a colour-3D-printfile, helping graduation students to print their designs, finding specific quality aspects for different scaled models (e.g. urban - landscape - buildings - construction parts - prefabs - details) and several financed modeling assignments for architects. To illustrate the diversity of the exploration, we would like to mention four experiments:
1. A city model with projected additional information
We used the virtual city model of Martijn Stellingwerff’s PhD research experiment, to make a monochrome test print. The model was used in a new application that projects interactively 3D-city information (e.g. Geographic Information System data and maps) on top of the scale model. This proved to be a very attractive manner to present planning developments to clients and e.g. people from the neighbourhood concerned with re-development. The scale model gives a more understandable spatial overview, while the added information from the projection explains different aspects about the existing situation and about the new proposals for the neighbourhood. This application is expected to be a low-threshold tool to communicate design issues to a broader public. (Fig. 4, Fig. 5)
Fig. 4. Monochrome city model, with a projected interface
Fig.5. Monochrome city model, with a projected aerial picture
2. Expressive coloured sculptures.
Several students from Delft and from the Sint-Lucas school of Architecture in Brussels were asked to explore the limits of the 3D-printing technique. They came with unexpected strange forms. The limit of about 1 millimetre material thickness was often disobeyed, so some products were very brittle. The experiment proved how much more instructive and attractive it is to have a design in your hands, instead of on a computer screen. (Fig. 6)
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Fig. 6. Printed sculptures made from plaster and coloured binder fluid
3. An entrance and facade structure for an architect’s presentation.
In the summer of 2003, architect Johan Verleye requested to print a presentation model for an entrance design of one of his projects (office building ‘Prins Boudewijn’, Kontich). The entrance consists of a pillar and a half circular sailcloth. Printing the sailcloth-structure proved to be a very difficult job. The structure was modelled by means of several curved surfaces that had to get just enough thickness to be printed, while it still had to look like a thin cloth.
The model shows very well how the structure works mechanically and how it attracts people to find the entrances of the renovated building.
More information about this project can be obtained from the Architect: Johan Verleye architect bvba, Mechelen, (jvbvba@pandora.be), the Contractor: Cofinimmo, Brussels, (feedback@cofinimmo.be), the Engineer: Ney et Partners sa, Brussels (ney@ney.be) or the 3D-modeller: Maarten Happaert, Milan, (moguai@dialmfor.com). (Fig. 7, Fig. 8)
Fig. 7. The printed facades with the entrance structure
Fig. 8. The ‘cloth expression’ of a printed plaster model.
4. Several students made printed models for their final examination work
The model of Joris Weijts is a good example of the free-form architecture that can be presented by means of the 3D-printing technique. (Fig. 9)
Fig. 9. Joris Weijts: Museum of Accidents
Conclusions (The
3D-printer as a standard facility for students and architects)
Now, after the first two years, the 3D-printer becomes a facility with a daily production of models for students and a limited production of Research & Design models for architects and engineering offices. We develop a print support system, with file-upload through the Internet, a cost declaration system and instructions/help-files to have optimal print results.
The 3D-printer cannot be seen as a replicator from Star Trek; mysteriously producing any kind of scale model, right on demand. It takes a lot of effort to make good models. Craftsmanship is needed, both at the start and the end of a project. At the start, for modelling expertise, we mention Ernst Janssen Groesbeek and Eric van de Himst, amongst others, of the TO&I group (http://www.bk.tudelft.nl/bt/toi/). They prepared a lot of tests and implemented courses in relation to Rapid Prototyping. At the end of the process, Doortje van den AssemBerghahn and the other members of the scale model workshop, are key to the success of each 3D-print. Furthermore we want to thank the ICTO project and the Drawing - Calculating - Making project, managed by professor Jan Rots.