Jul 4, 2016 | By Alec

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Athens in Greece, you will doubtlessly spend hours gazing at the Acropolis in the city center. But it might be just as satisfying to jump on a bus headed to the city’s coastal region to check out the just completed Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. The absolute pinnacle of Greece’s modern architecture, it’s a gorgeous building that is also known for featuring an inspiring Energy Canopy roof – a wafer-thin structure that is completely covered solar panels. As tribute to this amazing architectural achievement, a 3D printed model replica of that roof is now on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, made by product developers ARRK.

In many ways, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) represents Greece’s culture in the 21rst century. Among others, it’s home to the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera, and also features the 210,000 m² Stavros Niarchos Park. “Education, culture and sustainability, the SNFCC’s three main elements, are essential requirements in enhancing the potential of the city and its people and placing them within a twenty first century global context,” its builders said upon the center’s completion earlier this year. The center is also one of few highlights in Greek life at the moment, and will open later this year – having been under construction for nearly a decade.

But perhaps its most remarkable feature is its Energy Canopy roof. Built in an attempt to make the building as environmentally sustainable as possible, it is a very thin concrete structure that towers over the whole center. Featuring a clever shock absorbing system that withstands the elements – even earthquakes – it is also covered with more than 5000 solar panels, which generate 2,280 kwh of electricity per year. Enough to power almost the entire center all year long. With it, the building is the first in Greece to be awarded the LEED platinum environmental certification.

In honor of that remarkable roof structure, its designers – the London-based engineering specialists Expedition – were invited to work on an exhibition in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, the world’s largest art museum. Among others, they wanted to display a scale model of the Energy Canopy, for which they teamed up with product developers ARRK. Originally a Japanese company, ARRK has since become a leading design engineering, prototyping and product development provider throughout the world.

As ARRK UK revealed, they were more than happy to help on the design of this scale model for the SNFCC. Upon reviewing sketches provided by Expedition, it was decided that Selective Laser Sintering 3D printing would be the best production technique for the scale model. But it was quite a challenging project in its own right, being 1 square meter in size and covered with intricate details. Fortunately, ARRK had plenty of experience with SLS 3D printing, and were sure that it would be ideal for the desired internal structures.

Due to the size of the model, ARRK quickly settled on 3D printing it in sections. “This had the added advantage of allowing ARRK to check and validate part accuracy at numerous intervals during the building and assembly process,” they revealed. After assessing the CAD data, several proofs were sent to Expedition for inspection – who were very impressed. ARRK then set about 3D printing all the sections in nylon, with layers as small as 0.5 mm.

Once completed, a team of finishers assembled and cleaned the complete model, which turned out perfectly. According to ARRK, their clients were completely satisfied. The remarkable and highly detailed model is currently on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum, where it will be exhibited until late 2016. If you can’t make it to Athens, the V&A Museum in London is a great alternative.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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