Romanian-born, American artist and sculptor, Ioan Florea, caught the world’s attention when he 3D printed a car. He has gone on to drop more jaws with his latest project — a 3D printed house designed and created along similar precepts to the Ford Torino but with the intent of 3D printing the furniture and appliances. I caught up with Ioan during my trip to New York and have been keeping an eye on all of the subsequent developments …. and he’s been a busy bee.
While we have seen a number of 3D printed house concepts develop across various continents, Ioan believes his, first premiered at the 2014 Inside 3D Printing event in NYC, to be the first actual 3D printed house in the USA. The structure itself was completed and transported ahead of the event, a feat that demanded some carefully planned logistics, stopping off at various locations before and after to much acclaim.
One such stop was at America Makes in Youngstown, Ohio, where Ioan also donated some art for the institute to display permanently. The interior concepts for the house are currently being finalized.
Florea has been on the road for pretty much the last three months with his house and car, but he generally works, building his 3D printed sculptures in a studio in Shelbyville, IL. After returning to NYC and spending three weeks with the 3D printed car at the auto show there, his most recent outing has been to Detroit, to the RAPID show last week. This was an important — and emotional — outing for Florea and the car, because, of course, it is where the original car — a 1971 Ford Torino — was originally made. Florea told me how important the use of this car model was to the whole concept: “the idea was to use a car that was made on an assembly line, which was introduced by Henry Ford 100 years ago and then fuse it with the latest technologies like 3D printing. It represents the transition to the third industrial revolution that we are witnessing right now. In this way I encapsulated an old car and old technology and connected it with new technology and created a dialogue between them.”
Thus taking the car to Detroit was hugely significant. Florea said: “It was very important to me [to go to Detroit] because the car was made there, and it was also where the Second industrial revolution started — with the introduction of the assembly line — and now The Third Industrial Revolution has just started ……. it’s a very important moment in history.
Between the touring activities, Ioan tell me he is finishing the inside of the 3D printed house, and rather than just view it from the outside, as was the case on the show floor in NY, it will soon be possible to walk inside and see the 3D printed furniture and appliances. The house — and the car — are very much artistic symbols according to Ioan, but there’s a bit of a jump in scale, figuratively and literally, particularly when using 3D printing. I asked Ioan how he made the leap. He told me: “Well, it’s not too hard. Everybody has a car. Everybody wants a house. At the same time, you know about the housing issue that happened a few years ago in the United States, when we had the big crisis. This house symbolizes the American dream — everybody wants to own a house. And the same with the car, everybody wants to have a car. They are representative symbols in the United States. Actually, they are symbols all over the world — recognizable symbols — and I just tried to fuse them with this new technology and create a dialogue. And everybody now is creating 3D printed houses. In Amsterdam, they are building one piece by piece. Someone in California has developed the Contour Crafting technique. Well, this is my version.”
The scale — of the house in particular — is also the primary reason that Ioan has collaborated with industrial 3D printer manufacturer voxeljet, which offers the largest 3D printing scales available. Ioan says of the company that the team was great to work with and very “accepting” of his vision, even at such scale, and were able to meet his quick deadlines. There are also other “regular, smaller fused deposition 3D printers” used on the projects. Of the technique itself, Ioan says: “I worked with voxeljet on the house and also used my own FDM 3D printer but then I developed my own technique, which I designed and evolved — the transfer technique. I start with a 3D printed shape, and then by transferring my materials to be able to create a similar section of the car to then connect all the pieces together, to get a flow, to look like one piece. So that’s where my technique intervenes, you know. After that, the final process is encapsulation, in a liquid metal that gives the right look of liquid/melted metal.”
As stated, the house is more symbolic than habitable, but it will represent every aspect of modern day living. Ioan says: “it will have everything inside — from a bathroom, washing machine, bed …. Everything.” All produced in the same way with 3D printing and the transfer technique and creating a unique aesthetic. The washing machine is completed, but has not been unveiled yet.
Ioan will be at IMTS in Setptember, but gets some logistical respite in the meantime to finish of those furnishings — and the windows.
This is a fascinating journey to watch — in terms of art and 3D printing. When I asked Ioan what comes next, he was only slightly reticent when he said: “maybe an aeroplane.”
