Oct. 21, 2014 | By Alec
Image credit: lluis (aubenc)
Just glancing at the programme of the thirteenth edition of the annual Dutch Design Week, which is currently being held (from 18 to 26 October) in Eindhoven, will quickly reveal enough reasons many to purchase a ticket. Catering to a wide variety of designing enthusiasts, a large and diverse line-up has been assembled once again.
And fortunately for us, quite of few of these fascinating projects use 3D printing in their creative process. Perhaps chief among these is the very impressive and ambitious Project Egg by Dutch designer Michiel van der Kley, who collaborated with countless others to realize a 3D printed-object that is literally the size of a house.
Image credit: lluis (aubenc)
Remember the Egg Project? This international communal project has been ongoing for a long time now – we first reported on it about a year ago – and it's finally been concluded. For those of you who don't know, Project Egg is all about the power of sharing, of co-creating and of 3D printing technology.
Image credit: lluis (aubenc)
Image credit: lluis (aubenc)
Some time ago, Michiel van der Kley sent out a world-wide open invitation to 3D enthusiasts everywhere to help him create an egg-shaped house built with 3D printed 'bricks' or 'stones'. And it takes a few bricks to build even a small house: Michiel's inventive design called for 4,760 3D printed stones, an impossible and absurd number for a single FDM 3D printer.
He therefore invited everyone to help achieve something special. Everyone with a (desktop) 3D printer could participate in a network of widely spread-factories and print a single stone. All you had to do was submit the info about your printer and its maximum print bed size. As a number of differently sized and shaped bricks were necessary for the shape Michiel had in mind, even smaller printers could make a valued contribution.
After submitting your data, Michiel's project team would then send you an STL-file of the your brick. After printing the file, you could simply send Michiel your brick, who would incorporate it into his wider structure. Below, the first 3D printed brick (number 4010, printed by Hrvoje Petrovic from Croatia) can be seen. Alternatively, there was also an option to adopt a stone for either €8 or €15, in which your name would then be engraved.
Above all, this wonderful project highlights what a combination of ingenuity, cooperation and modern technology can achieve. Michiel explained that it all began with an intention to find out what 3D printing technology is capable off. "I bought a 3D printed a few years ago, to try and see what it could do." Michiel said. "A 3D printer is capable of creating new and exciting objects, but when is something new and how do you go about getting creating it? I decided to sideline all the knowledge I had of current production techniques for a while. I was looking for a new language of shapes, one naturally belonging to this new machine."
And for this, he sought inspiration in nature and decided on three themes to make his 3D printing project new and special.: 'Firstly, design 'something' which can only be constructed with 3D printing technology. Secondly, think larger than the printing bed of a single 3D printer. And thirdly, think from a vantage point in the future, where everyone will have a 3D printer in their own home.'
The result is the Egg Project, which necessarily relies on more (way more) than one 3D printer and which is built from bricks of varying sizes and shapes, necessitating the usage of 3D printing technology.
Each of the 4,760 'stones' has been printed in PLA filament, which is superior to other filaments for a number of reasons. Not only is it sturdier and less affected by warping than, say, ABS, but it's also biodegradable. The chosen hollow shapes allow for a limited usage of materials, and the various bricks have been attached to each other using custom-made hexagonal screws.
This very cool project has finally been concluded, and can now be seen at the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. Can't make it to Eindhoven? Fortunately, Michiel intends to take his pavilion all over the globe in the coming years as a showpiece of collaborative creation. Be sure to check it out when it comes to your area.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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Alec, what a lovely article about project EGG. Thank you.
Robert Torres wrote at 10/21/2014 11:13:58 PM:
This is a wonderful project! Beautiful!
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