New York was represented in artistic form more than any other cityscape in the twentieth century. From Mondrian’s jazz inspired 2D abstract representations to Hollywood’s movie metropolis of choice, the bustling vibrant environment of NYC has attracted more attention than any other population centre since the dusk of the days of the primacy of London and Paris as muses of the avent-gaurd. Now 3D Systems has helped creat an amazing abstract 3D representation of the most portrayed city of the post-renaissance era, that most cited of citadels since Rome.
In early 2014 Vick Art Advisors asked Sparks, a Brand Experience company, to create a sculpture to fill a 24-foot niche in a newly renovated corporate space in New York City. Vick Art was seeking something to represent Manhattan in the abstract. The deadline for the design brief was tight, demanding a quick turnaround. This project was a challenging collaboration between the Sparks creative team, Vick Art Advisors, the creators of the original digital 3D file, the client, and 3D Systems QuickParts.
Sparks brainstormed an installation to evoked Manhattan’s persona in a unique interpretive way, seeking to laterally explore potential production process options on how that persona could be manifested in the physical. The team researched CNC technology and manual fabrication techniques, but discovered that the complexity of the subject pointed to 3D printing as the most logical direction. Given the deadline set, getting 3D prints made quickly was a critical factor. One route that may cross the mind of many a U.S.-based maker is the 3D printing service from 3D Systems, Quickparts, which produces on-demand prints for quick turnarounds.
Sparks purchased a Digimation Model Bank 3D digital file of the Manhattan district as a rough template in a 3D software product to rebuild the borough. Over ninety percent of the geometry was rebuilt to accommodate the 3D print medium. The 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) model was broken up into 15″ x 15″ facets to be printed as twenty-eight tessellating tiles. Design element that were deemed too fragile were re-proportioned. To render the objective design into a subjective artwork an interpretive dimension was added, mapping a New York-related graphic image onto the whole piece, for which, after testing proofs the art advisor and the client selected a nocturnal skyline view. Time was expended defining how the C.A.D. software exported the data so it would work perfectly with the colour jet printers. Another challenge involved engineering a way to permanently hang the twenty-eight models onto a wall to create the impressive expanse of Manhattan without visible fastening fittings.
Since the tiles were numerous and time was tight, the team at Quickparts utilised its globally located service centres to get the project complete on time. Quickparts required 3D Systems’ ProJet 860 full colour 3D printers to create them. With some twenty-eight tiles the team set half of the work into completion in Quickparts’ French facility, the other in Andover, Massachusetts in the US. For the full set to then be shipped overnight for mounting in the installation.
Senior Design David Shamlian said: “Quickparts has a wide range of 3D printing options for different types of projects. However, we needed to print very large models very quickly and in full CMYK colour, so their ColorJet Technology was the one option that made this even feasible. The last models arrived from Quickparts on the Wednesday. All the pieces were prepped and pre-hung by Sparks craftsmen on Thursday. It was shipped to New York and installed to the delight of the client on Friday.”
This is, to my mind, the most impressive 3D printed cityscape since the pristine printing pertinence and Sistine sumptuous substance of the amazing 3D Printed Rome in Gold maquette created in the 1500 x 1300 x 90 mm Mammoth Stereolithography machine at i.materialise based upon 250 year old etchings of ancient Rome by mapmaker and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi.
I’ll close with a thought that shows that whilst we are enamoured by the magic of technology, and amazing as both of these fantastic 3D printed cityscapes are, neither great technological accomplishments match by any possible stretch of the imagination the amazing artistic feat by a young autistic man, Stephen Wiltshire, who, from just a twenty minute helicopter ride above New York drew a mind blowing eighteen foot long replication of the vast city!
Check out this must-see video inspirational video of Stephen, I’d love to hand him a 3D printing pen…
