curvoxels team develops seamless 3D printing tech at bartlett school of architecture

curvoxels team develops seamless 3D printing tech at bartlett school of architecture
all images courtesy of team curvoxels, sin bozkurt

‘spatial curves’ is a experimental, seamless 3D printing project developed at research cluster 4 of the bartlett school of architecture. executed by team curvoxels — hyunchul kwon, amreen kaleel, xiaolin li — under the direction of manuel jiménez garcía and gilles retsin, the speculative work is an investigation into the use of robots for large-scale, architectural 3D printing. RC4 has developed a range of objects using the technology, starting with a replica of verner panton’s famous cantilevered chair for vitra.

3D printed, second generation seat 

the team developed a custom extruder, which dispenses 4-6mm thick polymer directly into the air. as the arm follows its designated tool path, the plastic cools in equilibrium. this allows for not only much more rapid printing; it also means less material, and the ability to create highly detailed, filigree-like structures. a combinatorics algorithm creates a single curvilinear element, which is translated into a continuous kilometers-long extrusion. thus, printing never has to cease.

but the printer is only valid if it has something to print. initially, each object — the panton chair in this instance — is ‘voxelized’, a process in which the structure is divided into 3-dimensional pixels. once this is done, voxels are translated into a basic, editable spatial curve that is adapted to generate an overall pattern through the geometry. voxels change size depending on the amount of stress in its particular location, which results in the distribution of various material densities that make the object structural. 

second generation 

‘curvoxels’ chair

chair profile

textural surface quality 

third generation chair detail 

‘curvoxels’ spiral staircase

the method allows for seamless printed structure  

printing process 

3D printing process 

‘curvoxels’ chair simulations using combinatorial system

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions  feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: nick brink | designboom