3D printing a self-supporting bridge inspired by Da Vinci Construction 3D Printing

by Architecture

In the late 15th century, polymath Leonardo Da Vinci drafted the first designs for a self-supporting bridge. Six centuries later and the bridge is still one of the most significant architectural inventions of human history. Recently, Da Vinci’s self-supporting bridge has inspired a project at the Polytechnic University of Bari, where a team in the ArCoD department led by Professor Giuseppe Fallacara, has partnered with 3D printing company WASP and stone processing specialists to create a 3D printed self-supporting bridge. The bridge, suitably named “Da Vinci’s Bridge”, has progressed in its development with a finished prototype.

MX3D Is For Real, Its Generative Metal 3D Printed Bridge Is on Schedule Professional Additive Manufacturing

MX3D Is For Real, Its Generative Metal 3D Printed Bridge Is on Schedule Professional Additive Manufacturing

by Architecture

With close to a third of the bridge printed, Dutch design studios MX3D are well on track to be finished printing in early 2018 as programmed (see timeline below). By now, the company working on the bridge designed by Joris Laarman also mounted a robot directly on the bridge. Unlike so many high-profile 3D printing projects that clash with physical impossibilities, the first generatively designed, metal 3D printed bridge looks like it is going to become reality (and no, you cannot buy it).