The Design Exchange‘s ‘3DXL: A Large-Scale 3D Printing Exhibition’ in down town Toronto is one way to introduce people to this cutting edge technology.
3D printing is radically changing many aspects of life as we know it; objects from prosthetics in the medical field, to guns, can be created now by 3D printing.
Similar to a regular printer, the 3D printer uses a different substance in place of the ink, laying down a surface, and the machine raises up to lay down another layer on top, until the design is complete.
‘People are really shocked by it’
Curator and Director of Collections at the Design Exchange, Sara Nickleson, says when she started researching the show, she began by looking at architectural studios to see what was being developed.
Digital Grotesque was a piece Nickleson had seen previously by architect-programmers Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer. She describes the Grotto stucture as “one of the most beautiful kind-of strange things that I’d ever seen.” She soon discovered that one of the creators, Benjamin Dillenburger was teaching at the University of Toronto.
The duo created another in their opus of Digital Grotesque in this higher resolution work called the Arabesque Wall. To create this 3D printed column, about 10 feet high, they custom-designed their own software.
Nickleson says people are excited, when they see the innovations in the field. It is not limited to plastic any more, allowing artists and architects to address the challenges of strutural integrity.
The exhibit also features a building block from the 3D Print Canal House that is currently being constructed by a large-scale printer in the heart of Amsterdam.
The Saltygloo, by 3D-printing startup Emerging Objects, of San Fransicso, is the first structure created with sea salt. The dwelling is inspired by the Inuit igloo and the use of salt blocks in traditional Middle Eastern and desert architecture.
3DXL: A Large-Scale 3D Printing exhibit is on display in Toronto until Aug. 16, 2015.
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