The world’s fist 3D-printed steel footbridge has been installed in Amsterdam. Created by Dutch company MX3D, the bridge measures 40 feet (12 meters) in length and contains 4.5 tons of stainless steel forming a curved, flowing structure.
The bridge, formed of four main pieces, is intended to be more than a purely functional piece of infrastructure but will also serve as an artistic celebration of the potential for 3D printing technology. The structure will also become a “living laboratory,” fitted with dozens of sensors. Over the next four years, researchers from Imperial College London will study data generated by the bridge, which they will use to monitor and measure the bridge’s performance in the real world.
The data collected from the bridge will allow researchers to monitor performance in real-time, analyze how its performance changes over its lifespan, and understand how the public interacts with 3D-printed infrastructure. Data will be fed into a “digital twin” of the physical bridge to imitate its performance and behavior, helping to inform future novel construction projects involving 3D manufacturing.
“3D printing is poised to become a major technology in engineering, and we need to develop appropriate approaches for testing and monitoring to realize its full potential,” says Professor Mark Girolami from the Alan Turing Institute, who were involved in the bridge’s design and monitoring. “When we couple 3D printing with digital twin technology, we can then accelerate the infrastructure design process, ensuring that we design optimal and efficient structures with respect to environmental impact, architectural freedom, and manufacturing costs.”
Printing of the bridge began in March 2017, taking approximately six months. The steel was printed layer by layer in four parts, plus four “corner swirls” that were manually welded together. Four commercially available industrial robots were used to print the bridge, which was transported to its location via a canal in central Amsterdam. The bridge was opened by Dutch Queen Maxima with the help of a small robot.
News of the bridge’s opening follows a week after Knight Architects received approval for what is expected to be one of the busiest pedestrian bridges in London. We also reported last week on the story of an architect who has designed a bridge across the 101 Freeway to help cougars safely cross the busy route in Los Angeles.
The bridge is also the latest in a series of developments in the world of 3D-printed structures. Last week, the Fibonacci House became the world’s first Airbnb listing to be comprised predominantly of 3D-printed parts, while Denizen unveiled a 3D-printed office pod for the future of remote working. Last month, Habitat for Humanity announced it was building its first 3D-printed house in the United States, seen as an important step in the organization’s mission to offer affordable housing across the country.
8 Comments
printed in 6 months but it apparently took 4 years to get all the paperwork in order for installation. got to love bureaucracy...
Yeah, I remember this design from a long time ago when they did proof of concept press. Even though it's "just" a pedestrian bridge I imagine they still need a lot of independent testing and certification to validate code compliance... And then get all the paperwork approved by the city of London.
(Amsterdam, oops)
love it, looks rendered irl.
Very nice if a bit overdone.
Reminds me of art nouveau…
The concrete version (sort of):
https://www.designboom.com/arc...
https://archinect.com/news/article/150274743/zaha-hadid-architects-and-block-research-group-unveil-world-s-first-3d-printed-concrete-footbridge-built-without-any-reinforcement
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