www.3ders.org

Oct 25, 2015 | By Alec

We’ve already seen so many examples that prove that CAD designs and 3D printing can produce stunning works of art, but very few of these artistic projects have relied on software as much as Turkish architect Daghan Cam does. With the help of advanced algorithm-based computer simulations, he has trained image processing robots to create complex 3D printable and highly artistic structures.

Daghan Cam is an architect with a very diverse background. The founder of architectural practice Daghan Cam Limited, with offices in London and Istanbul, he also teaches at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture. Previously, he worked with Zaha Hadid Architects, and has taught extensively all around the world. With an M.Arch degree with Distinction from the Architectural Association (2012), he is something of an expert when it comes to computational design, robotic fabrication and large scale 3D printing.

Those are key words when looking at his architectural designs, which combine the best of futuristic creations and the Sydney Opera House. That style can best be seen in the fantastic model above, which was a huge hit at the Milan Design Week earlier this year. To create such fantastical and impressive models, Cam has developed a fascinating design process filled with GPU computing and algorithms. GPU computing is the use of a GPU (graphics processing unit) together with a CPU to accelerate general-purpose scientific and engineering applications. Essentially, he creates these 3D printable renderings through specifically programmed image processing robots. He has spent years coding with the CUDA parallel programming model and NVIDIA GPUs.

This particular model was designed with the help of a Quadro K6000 graphics card and Tesla K40 GPU accelerator, which enabled his algorithms to create such gorgeous 3D shapes. With the help of Boston Limited and Belgian 3D printer specialists Materialise, the results were 3D printed on one of the largest model stereolithography 3D printers around – in a single piece. The final model is fit for a museum of modern art, but wouldn’t it be cool if buildings took on such shapes? For it is quite practical too, something that no doubt stems from the designer’s architecture background: it uses minimal materials to reduce building costs, while its structural integrity is completely up to par.

While already a big hit in Milan, the Bartlett School of Architecture is now backing Cam’s work to apply this process to more extensive projects. With the help of large scale 3D printing and robotic fabrication, he and his teams are currently working to optimize their deep learning algorithms for real time image processing and robotic fabrication. The goal? To develop robotic construction techniques capable of efficiently building these structures through an autonomous decision-making process. In part, this requires training industrial manufacturing robots with the help of the NVIDIA cuDNN deep neural networks library.

Cam has further said that 3D printing will definitely play a big role in the construction and architecture world in the near future, especially as a cost and time saving technology that adds new design options. ‘Based on what 3D printing technology can do today in the automotive and other manufacturing industries, it is clear that rapid development of 3D printing in the construction industry, with computer-controlled production, is coming but will continue to require human craftsmanship.’

For Cam himself, the results are obviously artistic, but his own focus is mostly on the innovative process itself. ‘The object is designed as an abstract form instead of assigning a functional use to it like a table or a chair in order to focus the attention on the process of design rather than
the end form,' Cam explains to us. 'It is an architectural prototype / artifact that explores the idea of transitioning from intentionality to fidelity of information processing.' While it will take some time before such 3D printing innovations can be applied in architecture, some of cam’s simulations were recently displayed. A video of these remarkable results can be seen below.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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