3D printing speeds up building Barcelona's Sagrada Familia Church
posted 03 April 2015 at 13:12:34
3D printing is playing a crucial role in completing the Sagrada
Familia church in Barcelona. The city’s famous landmark, with its unique combination
of Gothic and Art Nouveau forms, was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.
The project began in 1882, but it was only a quarter complete when Gaudi died
in 1926. Until the turn of the 21st century, the project to complete the
Sagrada Familia took the form of laboriously handcrafting prototype models from
Gaudi’s designs before making them for real. Then, in 2001 3D printing came to
the rescue. The prototypes, printed in alternating layers of dust and binding
material, bring all the usual benefits of 3D printing: they are cheaper, more
accurate and, above all, they speed up the process. Now, the project that until
recently had no end in sight, has a completion date of 2026.
(c) Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia