Milan Design Week 2018, or Salone Del Mobile Milano, is in full swing in the global taste-making capital of Northern Italy. This week, in an exhibit made for 3D printing enthusiasts with an eye for architecture, UK design firm Arup and Italy’s CLS Architetti put the finishing touches on the 3D HOUSING 05 project – a 100 square meter house 3D printed in cement.
The eponymous architecture firm of the late Zaha Hadid has also returned this year with a range of 3D printed furniture for new Spanish design brand Nagami.
An exploration of sustainable architecture
3D printed on site at Piazza Cesare Beccaria, 3D HOUSING 05 is single storey home complete with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. It is furnished with high-end interiors including a hand-carved marble bathtub and brass countertop, making it, as a finished article, one of the most beautiful 3D printed houses we have seen to date.
The 3D printed walls of the house are segmented, so that can be easily transported to a new location. Despite this, a number of the walls have also been installed with windows and light fittings, giving the house the all-important finishing touches. At present, the ceiling of the house is made of plaster – not 3D printed – covered with creeping plants, and protected by an overarching perspex canopy.
The project, led by CLS Architetti co-founder Massimiliano Locatelli, was conducted to explore “the possibilities offered by 3D printing in the field of sustainable architecture, responding to the increasingly urgent revolution in the world of housing.” It was completed in collaboration with Italcementi Heidelberg Cement Group, the second largest cement supplier in the world, 3D printing familiar design firm Arup, and 3D printed construction company Cybe.
Today, CLS Architetti announced that the house won the “Best sustainability prize” at Milan Design Week 2018 “for the ability to purpose a concrete and sustainable solution in the architectural realm, in perfect balance between material quality and emotional experience.”
Take a seat in a brave new world
Last year in Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan’s main public painting gallery, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) wowed visitors with 9 foot tall sculpture made from a single, continuous strip of 3D printed PLA.
This year, the firm returns in collaboration with Nagami, contributing cutting-edge 3D printed chairs to the newcomer’s inaugural exhibit.
Shown as part of Brave New World: Re-thinking Design in the New Age of Technology on display at Spazio Theca, Nagami is exhibiting four pieces of furniture that explore the possibilities of large-scale, robotic arm powered 3D printing.
Rise and Bow are chairs made by Nagami in collaboration with ZHA. Both are made from tinted PLA by the studio’s Computational Design research group (ZHA CoDe). They were 3D printed upside down, starting with the widest part of the chair and ending at narrower the base.
The finished result is organic, alien-like shapes, one that looks like coral (Rise) and the other that could have appears on the set of Tron (Bow).
Designers Ross Lovegrove and Daniel Widrig also developed 3D printed chairs for Nagami’s Milan exhibition. Wildrig’s black PLA chair is made from 7mm thick shells, and avilable to buy for 1120€ + VAT.
Lovegrove designed the Robotica TM chair for Nagami that converges “botany and robotics,” made from a 3D printed mixture of PLA and TPE.
Stay on track with the latest 3D printed design innovations and more news – subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.
Advance your career in 3D printing, or post a vacancy. The 3D Printing Jobs board is live.
Vote now in 2018 3D Printing Industry Awards ahead of the annual dinner in May.
Featured image shows the 3D printed 3D Housing 05 in Milan. Photo via CLC Architetti
