Aug 15, 2016 | By Tess
A collaborative effort in Beijing, China is hoping to realize what could eventually be the world's largest 3D printed structure. The structure, called the Rise Pavilion, is still currently in progress and is up against Beijing's own 3D printed Vulcan Pavilion, the current holder of the Guinness World Record for world's largest 3D printed structure.
Various groups, including Chinese RISE Education Group, Edelman, DeFacto, and Beijing uCRobotics Technology have been working together to create this 3D printed structure using FDM 3D printing technologies and biodegradable PLA filament. So far, the impressive structure, which resembles a flower from above, has used 1.8 tons of filament (the equivalent of about 600,000 meters), and measures 3.4 meters in height and spans over 100 square meters.
Beijing based uCRobotics, who took take of the 3D printing, reportedly took 45 days to complete the entire print job, which consisted of 3D printing individual hollow blocks, which were then assembled by teams of helpers. The 3D printed structure is made up of five main parts which resemble petals. Each petal, for its part, is made up of a number of blocks, colored black or white, and ranging in size from small, to medium, to large which are stacked on on top of the other. The final structure will be made up of 5370 blocks and is expected to take 6 days for full assembly.
For those interested in laying their eyes upon this large 3D printed structure, it will be unveiled and presented between August 21st and September 6th at the Longhu Era building in the Daxing District in Beijing. Of course, as the structure is only on display for such a short time, it has been constructed with modularity in mind and can be built and rebuilt by simply removing individual blocks.
Amazingly, to keep the project as eco-friendly as possible and not to let the hours of 3d printing and tons of filament go to waste, the organizers will be giving away blocks from the 3D printed structure to guests when the display is over. The hollow bricks can then be used by guests in their homes as flower vases, or even small lamps. This will not only turn the structure into something new but will get its guests, and especially the younger generations, to think about up-cycling, manufacturing cycles, the potentials of multi-functional goods, and decreasing overall consumption.
The project was initiated by RISE Education, which every year invites students from all over China to come together to think about the future of health, transportation, society, education, design, and more.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
Maybe you also like:
- Cool solar-powered portable 3D printed Pokémon Center can charge up to twelve phones at once
- Worldwide spending on 3D printing to surpass $35 billion by 2020, IDC predicts
- Researchers develop new way of 3D printing electronics using cheap materials and a flash of light
- Adidas giving pairs of '3D Printed Winners Shoe' to Olympic medal-winning athletes
- Diamond specialist De Beers adopts Stratasys 3D printers for diamond testing equipment
- Redditor SexyCyborg turns more heads with 3D printed Infinity Skirt packed with LED mirror tiles
- J 3D & Nagoya City University develop 3D printed artificial hip joints to fight aging population challenges
- Stanford scientists 3D printing rocks to examine how microstructures affect large-scale properties
- New Zealand's Canterbury University is 3D printing educational replicas of 3,000-year-old artefacts
- British eight-year-old receives 3D printed hand in colors of favorite soccer team