A majestic bluem 3D printed lion statue has just been installed outside of Lyon’s new Grand Olympic Stadium by the French startup Drawn, which specializes in large-scale 3D printing.
The lion is the first of a four part series to be stationed at points along the stadium’s perimeter, corresponding with the four cardinal directions. The remaining three lions will be painted red, white, and gold, composing the team colors of France’s Olympique Lyonnais football club. The sheer size of the monument represented an obvious technological challenge, with a height of almost 14 feet, an 8-foot square base, and a weight of over 3,300 pounds.
“3D printing lasted close to 500 hours or about 20 days of non-stop production. The 4.2 meter statue was cut into 88 elements to prevent stress on the material and on the size of files,” comments Sylvain Charpiot, founder of Drawn. “To prepare this project, 600 hours of research and development were necessary to determine the right material, the right process, and the right assembly systems.”
Drawn, known for its locally designed and manufactured 3D printed furniture and home décor, relies on a large-format FDM printer named Galatea. The robotic arm-based printer uses fiberglass-reinforced ABS plastic to create each piece of the statue, which were then assembled with screws to give form to the lion.
The design for the blue beast is the work of the Dutch designer Marthijn of the 3DWP studio. The architecture firm Naço provided Drawn with the 3D printing files. Installation of all three lions is scheduled for April of this year.
Scale is clearly no longer a limiting factor to additive manufacturing with technology like Galatea. The zero-waste process has already set a precedent in both France and the industry at large.
