One technological element that is truly hitting its stride in the architecture sector is that of 3D printing. While CAD and BIM allow architects and designers to draw and create using a computer, 3D printing takes these exact, computer-developed plans and prints them as is.
The absolute exactness of this architectural development medium means speed and precision are high on the list of positive elements associated with 3D printing. There is no level of human error involved and exact specifications can be tested in miniature form.
It is this lack of the human element, however, that provokes the question: could 3D printing take the artistry out of architecture design?
According to Yale School of Architecture dean Rober A. M. Stern, the personal, tactile nature of design development is paramount in his works.
“I personally still make little drawings and I like to use sculptors modeling clay, which I was introduced to by Louis Kahn who used it,” says Stern. “But it goes back in the architectural terms tradition in art terms in general to the tradition of sculpture. And I like to shape things, and mush them around, and play with shapes.”