As manufacturing and construction processes move into the 21st century, digital modelling and fabrication are bringing architecture designs to life.

Various tools use computer numeric control to build 3D objects. Tools like computer milling, laser cutters and 3D printers are used to design objects, moving away from a flat 2D image on a screen to composing 3D versions of an object.

Steve DeMicoli is a practising architect at local architecture firm DeMicoli and Associates. The firm is an early adopter of new technologies and has been experimenting with 3D printers for several years. DeMicoli went on to develop his expertise in computational design services, digital fabrication and laser cutting and founded DFab, a boutique design studio specialising in these services.

DeMicoli explains the opportunities and dangers of the trend to use 3D printing as an architectural design tool.

Although 3D printing may sound futuristic, the technology is quite simple. In 3D printing a virtual design is created on a computer, which is then uploaded to a 3D printer. Layers of material, like powder or a molten plastic filament, are ejected from a printer head or extruder into successive layers until the entire object is formed. This machine can instantly produce a structure of any shape or customised design. These structures can test the accuracy of the design and prototype ideas easily and efficiently.

When 3D printing technology was initially developed in the 1980s, industrial 3D printers, used mainly in the engineering industry, were highly specialised and costly machines. This made them accessible only to large corporations.

As innovators in their field, in 2011 DeMicoli & Associates sourced a z-corp 310 3D printer. Using technology originally developed in the early 1990s, this printer allowed DeMicoli & Associates to experiment with 3D printing technology.

With the recent expiry of patents for 3D printing technology, 3D printers are now widely available for consumer use. Low-cost DIY 3D printers are within the €1,000 range and although the quality of the print is semi-professional, it still opens the door to a lot of opportunities.

With the technology becoming affordable for mainstream consumers, 3D printing promises to revolutionise manufacturing. Anyone with a home 3D printer can download designs, customise them and print anything from door handles and light switches to spare parts and mobile phone covers. This means the full democratisation of making products by blurring the distinction between customer and manufacturer. The customer’s imagination is the only limitation.

3D printing technology is rapidly making its way into architectural and design firms across Malta.

The opportunity for architects to explore their designs and forms through 3D printing could be as much of a game changer as Gutenberg’s printing press

Architects can build 3D model versions of designs for a final project to showcase a model to clients, after the designs are drawn up using computer-aided design software. 3D models allow an architect to build different versions of a model within short periods of time, which allows for modification and new ideas to be tested. Used in this way, 3D printer technology could allow the profession to produce ­modern marvels.

But this is just one tool in the architect’s tool kit. According to DeMicoli, to maximise the potential of 3D printing in architecture, a 3D printer has to be used during the design process.

3D printers are the most accessible form of digital fabrication as there is a relatively low learning curve to understand how the machines work. The opportunity forarchitects to explore their designs and forms through 3D printing could be as much of a game changer as Gutenberg’s printing press.

“Architects can prototype designs at the touch of a button,” DeMicoli says. “This creates a platform for architects to engage with the tool and explore form and design through making, moving away from designing on paper first and then materialising them into structures.

“The way an architect designs and the tools used greatly influence the end product,” DeMicoli says. “By introducing prototyped objects in the initial design stages, the architect engages with physicality in the design process. This allows an architect to design the building more holistically.”

DeMicoli stresses that 3D printing is simply another tool available to the architect. In the end, the critical thinking to a good design and the analysis of the functionality of a space must be decided and carried out by the architect. Like any other tool, the overuse of 3D printing can also begin to put architects into an object-oriented mindset, which detaches them from the real scale at which these models will be built.

These virtual and 3D printed objects finally become habitable spaces. Their geometries begin to influence their inhabitants and it is fundamental that they do so in an uplifting and positive manner.

What is the future of 3D printing and ­architecture?

In May 2014, a Chinese company used a 3D printer to print 10 full-sized houses in just one day using quick dry cement to construct the walls layer by layer. Will this happen in Malta? That is yet to be seen.

DeMicoli is currently a PhD candidate at the Institute for Computational Design in Stuttgart, Germany. His research focuses on material-based computational design and digital fabrication and the role disconnected micro-states such as Malta could have in providing an ideal testing environment for a more integrated system of design.

Adopting Paul Streeten’s philosophy that for a small island research and development should focus on adapting global technology to suit local needs, DeMicoli dares to dream: what if we could design a 3D printer that uses limestone waste from quarries and recycles it to make a 3D printing limestone composite for full-scale structures or complex parts of buildings?

The future of 3D printing is indeed brave.