Page 265 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2015265One of the most ambitious projects relatedto real construction using 3D printing is thatof a Dutch firm of architects who have set themselves the goal of constructing the first 3D building printed in full size in Amsterdam: 3D Print Canal House.133 To do so they are using a 3.5 metre-high printer especially designed for the purpose. According to their website, they will first print the whole façade and master floor and progressively add the rest of the building over the following months and years.The first floors and the façades of the house will be printed from polypropylene, but the archi- tects also hope to use bioplastics and recycled plastics. The walls will then be filled in with concrete in order to insulate and reinforce the building. The whole process of printing and assembling the house is scheduled to be com- pleted in three years. This particular 3D house is going to be built in a developing area by one of the canals north of the city. The idea is that, once completed, it can be used to host events, as well as being a tourist attraction.will explore 3D printing using potato starch; the “policy room” where they will display how to obtain permits for printed structures of this kind; and the “recycle room” where plastic elements used, such as bottles, will be shredded into printing material for the gigantic printer. It is a prototype converted into an exhibition and practical research that can pave the way for future 3D exhibitions to be enjoyed by every- one.Augmented reality is a technology that first emerged in the 1990s, though it has become much more popular and accessible thanks to mobile technology. Since the outset, augmented reality has been closely related to what has been called “virtual reality”, like some of the examples of reproduction of spaces examined above in connection with 3D technology; in fact, the differences between the two technologies are often subtle.Nevertheless, we can draw a distinction between projects for recreating spaces in 3D and more up-to-date interactive solutions and applications designed for mobile devices that bring to light augmented reality, as what augmented reality does in these cases is add virtual information to a real scene (hence the “augmented”).Therefore, if we wished to distinguish 3D projects from those of augmented reality from a current perspective, we might say that examples of augmented reality include a bigger interactive component owing above all to the latest mobile technology and cameras it incorporates, where virtual reality and physical reality coexist, generating a joint three-dimensional object or space. Nevertheless, from the perspective ofEach room is devoted to a specific research subject, such as the “kitchen”, where researchers3. Technology associated with the actual visit