Archinect - News

Move over, Google Earth: Swiss tech startup uses enhanced aerial photography to create better 3D models of cities for urban planners

2022-12-19T17:06:00-05:00

A new approach uses aerial imaging to generate 3D models of cities and regions with advanced precision, enabling urban planners to incorporate full-scale designs of all types of architectural and urban structures.

Tech start-up Uzufly operates out of the Le Garage space located inside the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)’s expanding Innovation Park. "The company's 3D models incorporate a wide range of urban-planning data and can accommodate any type of architectural design at full scale," reports Tech Xplore's Sandy Evangelista.

Previously on Archinect: Scientists are using deep learning data to map structure damage from wildfires

"We basically use the same technology as Google Earth — that is, aerial photography," Uzufly co-founder Théo Benazzi explains. "But while Google uses airplanes to take huge numbers of pictures at high altitudes, we use drones that have smaller cameras and capture images much closer to the ground. That's why we can generate 3D models at the level of a neighborhood or an entire city."

The team is currently working with the EPFL's Arts of Sciences Laboratory (LAPIS) and the Swiss National Science Foundation to produce a digital twin of an unnamed Egyptian...

Innovation is the key to 3XN and Itten+Brechbühl's new mass timber campus expansion in Switzerland

2022-08-18T09:00:00-04:00

A little more than 30 years after its opening in 1991, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Innovation Park in Ecublens, Switzerland, has announced a major campus expansion effort to be spearheaded by 3XN and the local studio Itten+Brechbühl (IB).

Their new masterplan, named Ecotype, includes 10 new mass timber structures and a smattering of biophilia-lined greenspaces that will gradually double the size of the entrepreneurial-oriented EPFL’s campus over the course of a ten-year timeframe. According to 3XN’s Jan Ammundsen, "Ecotope will be a campus that facilitates and generates disruptive innovative solutions by being the interface between EPFL and society at large."

Image render courtesy of 3XN.

The project is being undertaken in order to ensure that the 30 or so startups the Innovation Park produces annually will provide the physical spaces needed to thrive. The innovation park will be developed around six core "principles" of biophilia – "serendipity, modularity, ...

Tiny 3D Printing: A laser-activated 3D printing technique pushes the limits of speed, size, and precision

2020-02-25T18:45:00-05:00

In recent years, 3D printing has become the go-to technology for designers looking to prototype and deploy new designs and products.

Researchers from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have made a great (tiny) leap forward in the technology by creating a groundbreaking printing method that uses translucent liquid and a spinning container to produce tiny 3D prints.

According to a press statement by EPFL, "The new technique draws on the principles of tomography, a method used mainly in medical imaging to build a model of an object based on surface scans. The printer works by sending a laser through the translucent gel – either a biological gel or liquid plastic, as required."

Image still courtesy of EPFL.

As one can imagine, this new micro 3D-printing system has potential applications in a range of fields, including architecture.

3D printing company Readily3D is already in the process of creating a version of this print system that will be available for the market. The tr...