3D printing and embedded Electronics concepts from Arch Science

Complexity through
3D printing
My concept focuses around
looking into the potentials 3D
printing allows for, through
multiple materials, complexity of
form, and the ability to integrate
final form components and
connection for components.
There has been exploration in
both what forms can be created
through 3D printing and what
potentials exist.
Michael Senkow

Connective Work - Neri Oxman
Her work is, in the end, the inspiration for my hopes with this direc-
tion of research. There are multiple realms of thought, along with
workoutside of the 3D printing realm (through use of CNC machin-
ery and other fabrication techniques) but specifically within 3D
printing you can find many of my goals.
The basis, I’ve gathered, of much of her thought lies in biomimicra-
cy of natural structural forms. The integration of dual-actions with-
in an object, allowing part of it to act as structure while another
acts as a filter or light reducer, or the differing of density within the
material itself, to create something that may have greater strength
but lower weight, work as a light displacer, or integrate differing
materials outside of the purely printed substance into the final
form.

These concepts play out into final forms, combining the concepts
of multiple materials and thus multiple functionality within the
same object.
The material options available just within the hobbyist market
open up this realm even if the designer does not have access to
the more professional and more expensive machines.

Her work begins the exploration in how smaller forms can work
towards a larger object. There is often the illusion in her work, I be-
lieve, that the entire piece is created in one go. Within her research
papers though, you can see examples of how the individual pieces
are created and fastened together.
This opens up a line of thought in how these pieces are joined in
the first place. From what I can see, the connections look to be
more like puzzle pieces, with a direct joinery based upon the imag-
ery of the object. 3D printing though allows for a larger variability,
a connection that is specifically designed for the object.

Connective Work - François Brument
Positives - This project plays upon the idea of 3D printing the entire
structure, mixing the inside and the outside into one cohesive ob-
ject rather than seperating into different units. His project starts to
play into complexity of surface with a few inner, actionable struc-
tures playing as part of the greater whole.
Negatives - It starts the concept but doesn’t finish it. While there is
some complexity in the surface it is still purely aesthetic. Why sim-
ply make a working facade when you could print voids that have
action within them (movable shelves, pipes for wiring or moving
liquids and air, specific connectors between the components). Ad-
ditionally, the printer required is a very specific machine, made for
printing large format, concrete prints. Different materials aren’t
possible and there is not an open, ubiquity of the machine, falling
more into a luxury realm than a practical realm.

Connective Work - Softkill Design
ProtoHouse investigates the architectural potential of the latest
Selective Laser Sintering technologies, testing the boundaries of
large scale 3D printing by designing with computer algorithms
that micro organize the printed material itself. With the support of
Materialise, Softkill Design produced a high resolution prototype
of a 3D Printed house at 1:33 scale. The model consists of 30 de-
tailed fibrous pieces which can be assembled into one continuous
cantilevering structure, without need for any adhesive material.
The arrangement of 0.7mm radius fibres displays a range of flexible
textures and the ability to produce in-built architectural elements,
such as structure, furniture, stairs, and façade, all in one instance.
The Softkill house moves away from heavy, compression based 3d
printing of on-site buildings, instead proposing lightweight, high
resolution, optimised structures which, at life scale, are manage-
able truck-sized pieces that can be printed off site and later assem-
bled on site.
Negatives - Is this frivilous? Just because a 3D printed form can be
organic and fibrous, chaotic looking, does it need to be? Shouldn’t
usability take precidence?

Connective Work - DShape
Like with other types of 3D printing, the build object is created a
layer at a time. In this case, the layers can include wiring, cabling
and piping cavities, along with decorative touches like statues. All
of this is accomplished without a drop of cement.
Monolite uses regular sand and the extruder head pumps out a
binder agent. Once a build is complete, the structure requires 24
hours to fully set. When the 24 hours are up, the structure is dug
out of the surrounding sand (similar to how laser sintering works).
Any sand that hasn’t been used to build the structure can be re-
used.
The end result of a build using D-shape and the Monolite binder is
a marble-like structure that is, according to the company, stronger
than concrete without needing to rely on internal iron supports.
Monolite also expects (and this is true of most rapid manufactur-
ing) that building a house with D-shape will go much faster than
standard methods of construction.
Negatives - This is not approachable to most designers (and while
I realize that may be moot, it still seems important). Additionally,
while there is mention of the potential of embedding cabling, wire,
piping, etc. this hasn’t been done yet in most of the designs.

Connective Work - KamerMaker
A bit more towards my lines of thought.

Connective Work - Electronics
Both via embedding within the object and a mixture of conductive
and non-conductive elements, the final print can start to embrace
a more actionable quality.

The Open Source Movement
While design is relative to invidual requirements and can’t be
generalized to all situations, there is much to be said for sharing
knowledge and examples of work.
Part of my focus within 3D printing is how it opens up the design
realm to a wider audience along with allowing for greater amounts
of iteration and examples. Anything I create can be shared and up-
loaded, with direct files that can be altered and informed upon.
Rather than my work living in a dead-zone, in which once its pro-
duced others are left wondering how it was done, I can directly
share the files and concepts with a greater whole.
Other platforms exist in this realm, and it may make sense to de-
sign one specifically for the architectural/larger design realm. Most
of what has been designed and shared here so far fits mostly into
the object and gadget realm, but as the machines used within the
Maker movement become more advanced, larger, and more ex-
pandable in their material options, their connection and expansion
into Architecture seems more assured.

Dark-Side/Potentials
PIRATE BAY
While I have a hard time seeing true‘danger’within potentials of
3D printing and architectural design, there is something to be said
for opening up complexity and intricate forms to those who don’t
fully respect or understand them.
Guns display some of the best and worst aspects of industrial de-
sign. Intricate formwork and rapid adaptation, but at the same
time bent towards destructive forms. They bring with this concept
the feeling of how can you control this type of system when its
open to the public.
How would a designer defend their work if its open to the public
at the same time? While it would be fine to say that respect is key,
corporate examples of stealing work are rampant. To work with
this type of system, it seems a designer has to go down one of two
paths: defender or supporter. They either fight against the act, su-
ing, trying to find ways to make their work specifically theirs, or
they embrace it, forcing users to go to them because their work is
‘better’than the rest.

Material Options
My current access is meant more in the end to still be a model
for what could be produced, even if the models are larger in na-
ture. I currently am able to produce with plastic materials and only
change them based upon color, and potentially the difference be-
tween ABS and PLA.
Multiple other options exist (and could probably have their own
entire term devoted to each concept).
- Color Changing
- Wood imbued
(flexible, different smell, resemblance to wood)
- Conductive (Potentials with Electronics
- Glow in the Dark
- Nylon
(A key aspect here is that none of hese lose any of the basic manu-
facturing concepts in 3D printing - dual materials, precision in cre-
ation, inner-voids within).

Manufacturing Costs/Recycling
One potential in this realm simply lies in the material itself. While
plastic is often listed as an environmental danger, a material that
doesn’t degrade over time, it also has vast potential in regards to
its reclamation potentials.
Alongside the hobbyist 3D printing environment, the filament
production machinery has also become a side industry. Machines
that can both turn failed prints/excess material into new abs reels,
along with research into using other plastic waste forms to create
the abs filament reels in the first place is going on.
Displayed here is Filabot, a successful kickstarter for filament cre-
ation from used ABS products, along with a connection to research
being done at my undergrad for turning milk-jugs into filament.

Prior Work
Much of the term was originally
spent simply working on
determining the extents that
were open to me via 3D printing.
While I do not have access
to some of the extremely
advanced printers, I have
access to Makerbot’s Replicator,
Laser Sintering printers, and
the school’s more advanced
deposition printers.
Each has its own potentials and
limitations.

Dual Materials
While I only have access to really
working with different visual
versions of ABS right now, there
are already many materials to
work with, even in the hobbyist
realm.
- Glow in the Dark ABS
- Color Change ABS
- Carbon-filled, conductive ABS
- Dual Plastics (ABS/PLA)

Intricate/Connected Forms
With other machining processes,
forming a working/moving
form requires the production of
seperate parts that are pieced
together at a later date. Here,
you can produce connections
in the form itself, saving time/
proces.

2-Step Work
Potentials exist within
embedding second layers of
material.

2-Step Work
Additionally, thinking of the
material as more than just itself,
as a piece of a connective whole.

Specificity in Form
Both for the display of light
through an object...

Specificity of Form
And for detail within the work, in
areas that may not be possible
for the print itself.

Specificity in Form
Light is key, in that something
that is both structural and light-
altering can be combined within
the same object.

Working Towards a Product
Now that I’ve seen the forms
that are possible, through
various small models, the goal is
to seek a final form, something
that integrates the various
benefits 3D printing has (multi
material, designed to fit the
component without further
work, etc.)

Model as Final as Model
There is a goal of having the 3D
print work as the final object,
but as an intermediate step, the
print can act as a model for the
final form.

Specific Concepts - Connectors

Connecting Work - SI601
In a data manipulation course
within SI, my final project was
to produce a simple program
in python that gets Phillip’s
HUE lightbulb’s to intelligently
respond to user input.
In this case, the user can input a
city and a choice (temperature
or weather) and the lights
change based upon qualities of
these choices at the location.
github.com/mhsenkow/Hue-Weather for full code

3D printing and embedded Electronics concepts from Arch Science

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