Z Corp’s Dedicated Channel Partners

This week's guest blog is by John Kawola, Z Corporation Chief Executive Officer.

We just wrapped up our three regional 2011 ZNet channel partner conferences in Denver, Istanbul and Phuket. We had a fantastic turnout. First I want to thank the many people involved in organizing and pulling off all of the meetings conducted in the past six weeks. They required a lot of work and travel, but it was clearly well worth it. Equally important, I want to extend a special word of thanks to our partners.

I am often reminded when I attend these events of the importance of the relationship with our channel partners and customers. While we often think about Z Corp in terms of our technology and what we can do for our customers, none of this would work without the dedication of our dealers and distributors worldwide and the personal relationships we have built with them.

Many of our partners are small business owners. They have invested their own time and money into building something truly great. The fact that they carry the Z Corp product line, demonstrates their commitment and investment in us. We know it’s our job to return that favor by delivering a strong lineup of products, providing first-class support and training and, perhaps most importantly, being their partner.

http://www.zcorp.com  

AUDI Urban Future - New York Project 2011, MARC FORNES & THEVERYMANY™: 3D prints by Z Corporation

Today’s guest blog comes from Marc Fornes & THEVERYMANY™

“Beyond Likely” is a case study within Manhattan / NYC based on Jurgen Mayer’s Urban Future Award 2010 which was a vision of mobility as an augmented experience of motion resulting in an understanding of the city as constant flow of information. Flows that are physical such as pedestrian and cars or digital information as bits or pixels require as a premise a substrate based on continuity - from an infrastructure scale (network,...) down to every single bits of a habitation scale (surfaces,...)

Although they have the best intentions, visions or holistic understandings from a single architect have too often generated urban failures/drama when translated directly into urban planning or regulations, resulting in many new cities or projects that are witnesses of such holistic visions.

While on another hand we strongly believe in a certain form of organic growth, a more bottom up system where local decision making can hopefully shape a self balanced higher order and urban global coherency. Such processes are based on simulation and monitoring: test, trial, failures, evaluation, re-run... the basic principle of evolution. Yet such a principle needs time - a luxury that too often the design world can't afford.

Design implies the responsibility of a proposal. Therefore within such a short charrette “Beyond Likely” is a proposal for a taxonomy on the theme of continuity – an investigation of the Manhattan urban block and its morphology. These are not a catalogue of choices but a history / trail of a variation on a theme.

The study on the block morphology is investigated as a continuous hull – an empty shell (as opposed to a sum of 3D pixels) resulting from the development of custom computational protocols of precise indetermination: - precise because protocols are sets of geometrical build up, transformation, algorithmic relationships, all hierarchied - indetermination since - although it is the result of very deterministic steps - the entire routine must be run in order to be able to evaluate as inherent resonance (due to the high number of steps).

3D rapid prototyping models are extremely useful physical tests of any iteration – allowing the display of complex topological relationships beyond possible mental representation in potentially the blink of an eye and aid to push further the development of rules.

Central Park West came as a logical placement for such local morphological investigation as a long alignment of 49 city blocks at the limit of the park - some sort of long "lisiere" - an edge as the best spot to observe any microcosms, a linear fringe of singular possibilities.

• Continuity as organic habitation units - smoothed surfaces at the difference of edges increase the perception of space
• Continuity through density/cluster
• Continuity of voids and outside space - public or private
• Continuity through facade and roof becoming hard to differentiate which one is which
• Continuity of flows through ramping threshold infrastructure (represented as pixilated lines)
• Continuity through gradients of colors enabled by Z Corporation 3D printers.

Although the sequence has been created block by block there is a resultant continuity of mismatch. One section does not exactly match the next one yet they follow similar generative principles which results in the sum of local breakage and imperfection of the whole at local moments - rather than global failures – with surprises as urban quality...

Misfit as a new form of urban coherency? For sure a very different & colorful universe still to be developed…


http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx

3D Printing in AEC: Gaining Client Approvals

Have you ever met with a client to review your design in hopes of gaining their swift approval, only to have the client request more changes?  You’ve probably had this experience.  You walk away from the meeting feeling as though you’ve taken two steps backwards on the project.

Would it have been helpful if you could have shown your client a series of physical 3D models depicting design iterations to steer the client toward your recommended design? Probably, because perhaps your client didn’t completely understand your 2D renderings or BIM walk-through, resulting in ineffective communication.

You might think that building physical 3D models is cost-prohibitive and takes too long to complete. That’s certainly true of traditional model-making methods which are normally reserved for final presentation models.  In fact, by the time handcrafted models are completed, you have probably further modified your design.

What if you could create physical 3D models in a few hours and very affordably? How about several models at once – of either the same design or different designs – all in the same amount of time and for the same cost? Imagine those models could be white or multicolored or both.

Architects worldwide, of all sizes - from under 10 employees to more than 1,000 people - improve their design processes and break through project bottlenecks using 3D printing early and often.

Take a look at the six massing models below. The material cost, assuming you owned your own ZPrinter, is less than $150. The actual printing time is under 3 hours, and the turnaround time to have all six pieces in your hands is less than 5 hours. That means that you can bring your design iterations to life in less than a day! Your clients will be impressed, and you’ll find that your meetings move along more smoothly.

Here are links to two Webcasts in which architects of varying sizes and specialties describe firsthand how they use 3D printing, and the results they see after bringing the technology into their firms:

Andrew Chary Architect, PLLC: How to Win Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC) Business with 3D Printing 

OBMI International: Bringing the Third Dimension to Architectural Design  

If you haven’t introduced 3D printing into your firm, why not?  If you have, what are the benefits you’ve noticed?

http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx

Smart Geometry Redux

This year, the SmartGeometry conference was held from 28 March to 2 April at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture Center for Information Technology and Architecture (CITA) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Z Corp was a Silver sponsor for this event which draws the best and brightest minds in the industry worldwide.

The event was divided into distinct sections – a four-day Workshop where ten separate group clusters explored specific design challenges; a Talkshop day where Workshop participants reflected on their projects with colleagues; and a Symposium day where invited keynote speakers showcased their latest initiatives. With ZPrinter 650 and personnel support from Z Corp’s local partner, 3D Print Nordic, and also using the existing ZPrinter 450 at CITA, workshop participants used 3D printing to test their design concepts.

Here is a summary of one Workshop taken from the Archinect blog … In the far corner of the space, students were building and testing spaces for sound. “Responsive Acoustic Surfacing” focused on the parameterization of hyperbolic paraboloid geometry as used by pre-digital parametric architect Antoni Gaudi and it explored the sonic potential of this geometry. The participants investigated sound scattering and a 1:1 wall was designed and built using this geometry. The design of the wall was based on feedback from the physical acoustic testing of 3D printed 1:10 scale models using a scale reverberation chamber.

The 3D printed prototypes were created on the ZPrinters and measured 300mm in diameter. The photos below show two different textures for these acoustic surfaces.

Learn more details about this particular Workshop.

See a summary of several Workshops. 

3D printing continues to have a major presence at leading AEC events like SmartGeometry and it comes as no surprise that many of the SG participants work for firms who own their own 3D printer. If you or a colleague attended SG2011, I would love to get your feedback on this year’s event, especially as compared to Barcelona (2010), San Francisco (2009), and prior years.

http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx

Instant Arch: Self-supporting masonry with Vasari and Z Corp 3D Printing

Today’s guest blog is from Zachary Kron, Architectural Designer and Software Analyst for Autodesk.

Have you ever seen those elegant, light masonry arches that seem impossibly thin? Along with a little mortar to just help things stick together, they only use gravity and careful form making to stand up. How can you find that kind of arched form where the bricks are held together by gravity? And how could you make a cool 3D model of it?

I did a little masonry experiment in Autodesk® Project Vasari, a design tool for creating building concepts that is freely available for download as a Technology Preview from Autodesk Labs. Along with integrated analysis for solar, energy, and carbon data, Vasari includes a physics based form finding tool called Nucleus. This feature allows designers to simulate gravity, wind, constraints, and collisions on surfaces with different physical properties. Combined with the paneling tools in Vasari, I was able to simulate a compression masonry structure.

Starting from a rectangular surface, you can turning gravity upside down and making “hanging chain” models. These structurally efficient catenary curve based forms function entirely in compression.

If you break the surface down into individual “masonry bricks” with tiny gaps between them, you can 3D print out the results and test if the form is operating in compression.

The result of such a study should be a single form made out of many unconnected pieces.

In most fabrication scenarios, assembling this sort of structure out of individual pieces would be a nightmare of numbering, finding neighboring pieces, and creating temporary scaffold structures. In this experiment, however, the entire assembly was printed out on a Z Corp ZPrinter 450 pre-assembled, and the “scaffolding” was simply vacuumed out from underneath. No assembly required!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGOy8_9uRV4

The biggest problem I encountered was that the joints were a little too perfect. They were so tight that I needed to sprinkle a darker pigment into the joints to demonstrate that it wasn’t actually a monolithic form.

I couldn’t find any instant coffee, so I used hot chocolate mix.

This form was relatively conservative in terms of stressing the compression system and creating tight joints. Next time we run this experiment, we’ll try creating a more pronounced gap on a more dynamic form.

http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx

3D Printing Critical to Symmons Industries’ Design Studio Live Virtual Design Studio

Today's guest post is from Julie Reece, Z Corporation Director of Marketing Communications.

Bathrooms matter in the design world. The room itself is a canvas for architects and interior designers to showcase their talents in a way that helps set a property apart from the pack. More fundamentally though, the bathroom “experience” is a critical factor in the discriminating consumer’s willingness to spend and select one property over another.

For these reasons, bathroom fittings – the faucet, showerhead, towel rack and even the doorknob – are too important to overlook when building or remodeling hotels, luxury condos and high-end homes. Property owners are increasingly demanding one-of-a-kind fittings to deliver a unique experience.

Symmons Industries, 70-year-old manufacturer of commercial and residential plumbing products, has long served this market with custom design and manufacturing services. The company broke new ground with the launch of a first-of-its-kind virtual design studio for architects, designers and property owners, called Design Studio Live.

Design Studio Live is a Web-based program that allows users to create their own products and receive color 3D physical concepts of their designs within four days, metal prototypes in approximately 15 days, and delivered product for their property in as little as 16 weeks. With the help of this innovative new tool, architects and designers can create unique ideas that translate into exclusive fittings for their projects right from their desks. Users can begin by digitally paging through a virtual catalog of ready-made designs, dragging them to a virtual light box, and modifying them with Google SketchUp™, Adobe® Photoshop®, SolidWorks®, or any other 3D CAD program.

Eric Spear, Symmons’ director of custom services said, “Symmons is the only manufacturer offering fully customized plumbing fittings, and Design Studio Live makes it easier than ever for a designer to complete their bath design with products tailored for each project. We’ve built a process in which we can execute a custom design in the time it takes to flip through a catalog.”

Symmons design consultants are available for program guidance or design advice. However, users are encouraged to experiment as much as they’d like because the tool is designed to encourage creativity. The Design Studio program is also a tool for tracking and managing the progress of a project.

Challenge: fast-turnaround concept prototypes

Critical to the Design Studio Live formula is the ability to quickly and affordably churn out physical 3D models at high volumes. With this demand, handcrafting models was out of the question due to the time and labor involved. For Symmons, a 3D printer was the answer to creating a great custom service for its customers.

Long before Design Studio Live was conceived, Symmons owned a Dimension® 3D printer. Design consultants only used the printer intermittently because it took too long to get a prototype. Spear said that a single faucet took 15 hours to print.

Solution: ‘ZPrinting’

A local Z Corp. reseller told Symmons it could fix the turnaround problem with a printer from Z Corp. Symmons designers said, “Prove it.”

They did just that; instead of taking 15 hours to print a single faucet, Z Corp.’s 3D printer printed 12 models in 3.5 hours at half the price of the single model produced by the Dimension machine. Put another way, the ZPrinter could produce 48 prototypes in the time it took the Dimension machine to print one. Convinced, Symmons purchased the ZPrinter to create prototypes on demand, giving them the final piece of the puzzle they required to realize the vision of Design Studio Live.

Results: a thriving Design Studio Live

The ZPrinter and its 3D printed prototypes are turning out to be the driving force behind Design Studio Live.

Spear said, “The design process itself is exciting, but there comes a point when it’s really helpful to see a tangible, physical example of it. By ZPrinting 3D models, designers can stop looking at their screens and see what the part really looks like in context and feels like in their hands.”

The Z Corp. 3D printed prototypes also strengthen the relationship between an architect and a property owner. Spear said, “Architects can slide a set of ZPrints across the table – perhaps faucets of different sizes and shapes – along with a red pencil. The property owner gets a rare opportunity to handle the models and mark them up. The architect comes back with revised models a couple of days later, and the owner is blown away by the architect’s responsiveness.”

3D printing has also helped enable Symmons, known for the superior workmanship of their internal plumbing parts, to show their design capabilities. For example, the Mandarin Oriental, New York wanted a distinctive look and feel for its bathrooms, and their design firm turned to Symmons to help create the details of the design. The bath design called for a shower system that incorporated fittings with a ceiling-mount drench showerhead and a Roman tub filler that was both stylish and simple to operate. Symmons developed custom concepts for its client with an elegantly simple, single control for on/off, hot/cold operation, a feature that helped to overcome the language barrier many international guests experience. ZPrints helped Symmons communicate a range of options to the client, which enabled the team to quickly close on a final solution. It was the same story at a Miami hotel where ZPrints helped Symmons refine the design of a vertical showerhead surrounded by chandeliers. Other satisfied Symmons clients include the Wynn Resorts, Four Seasons and The Ritz-Carlton, to name a few.

The Z Corp. 3D printer was printing at full tilt five days a week, 20 models a run, according to Spears. In the first four months of use, Symmons produced 4,000 prototypes for a wide range of applications. Most were for client projects, but models also went to tradeshows, “lunch and learn” seminars with designers and architects, and to Symmons industrial designers. “You can push the print button during morning coffee break and be passing around prototypes at lunch. Z Corporation is enabling the kind of speed and part quality that is indispensable for Design Studio Live and all of our design work here,” said Spear.

The ZPrinter and its unique color capabilities have also produced other surprising benefits. They help Symmons stretch design concepts and prototypes beyond conventional stainless steel, using color to accurately represent the popular finish of Onyx. Color prototypes also make great promotional handouts – for instance, a brightly colored faucet model with an architect’s name on it. Symmons even brings its ZPrinter to tradeshows and prints nonstop, making its booth a popular stop for designers and architects witnessing the possibilities of both Symmons designs and instant prototypes.

Whether at tradeshows or in Design Studio Live, 3D color printing enhances Symmons’ business and brand by helping the company focus as much on the aesthetic considerations as the internals. The company is now able to prove that it can make the most beautiful “facades” – or better yet, help customers make them.

Spear said, “It’s a great experience to be the first in market to do this. Our unique ability to host a full-service virtual design studio with 3D printing capabilities, and do it so painlessly, is a real differentiator and a powerful one that keeps us in top of mind to our clients. Z Corporation’s unique speed, color and affordability make this possible.”

http://www.zcorp.com

3D Printing Helps Architects of African American Museum Save Time and Money

Today’s guest blog is from Julie Reece, Z Corp.’s Director of Marketing Communications.

Moody•Nolan, an award-winning architectural firm designing the International African American Museum, is using Z Corp.’s 3D printing technology to accelerate the design cycle, save money on concept models, and help ensure the building properly expresses the story of Africans in America. Moody•Nolan architects streamline design and review by printing physical 3D models using a ZPrinter 650.

The Charleston, S.C., edifice will reflect the fact that more slaves entered North America through the city than any other. Now in the conceptual design stage, the $80 million museum will also chronicle African American progress in the ensuing centuries. It is slated to open in 2015.

“We’ve considered the entire African American narrative, the bad and the good, as we select materials, conceive the spaces and forms, and review our work with the project founders,” said Michael Woods, Moody•Nolan, Inc. associate and one of the project designers. “ZPrinting enables us to quickly create early massing models and produce presentation models with accurate detail we never could have obtained even after weeks of handcrafting. The steering committee, mayor and city planners were simply amazed by our most recent models.”

Moody•Nolan, Inc. uses Z Corp.’s ZPrinter® 650, because it delivers the industry’s biggest models, highest throughput, highest-quality color and finest resolution.

The museum is intended to be a “window” into the African American story, a concept embodied in the glassy façade overlooking Liberty Park. During gatherings in the park, guests will be able to see glimpses of the museum’s interior. The East-facing facade can also be viewed as a window looking back to Africa.

Courtesy of City of Charleston Website

“This is a sophisticated building with a lot to say, and ZPrinting helps us convey concepts and details to numerous audiences, each in a way that makes the most impact,” said Woods. “We can ZPrint a new model from any of our four software packages – MicroStation, Revit, form•Z, and Google SketchUp – 10 times faster and at a fraction of the cost of handcrafting. The more complex the models, the greater the savings.”

ZPrinting helps audiences fully understand the building that is being proposed, unlike on-screen renderings. “You can touch a ZPrint, pick it up, turn it over and really see it,” said Woods. “ZPrinting allows us to move the design process forward more quickly, iterate more effectively and more deeply involve clients and other stakeholders. It’s a great tool and everyone benefits.”

Moody•Nolan is collaborating on the project with Antoine Predock. Architect PC, who also uses Z Corporation’s ZPrinting, and actually introduced Moody•Nolan to the technology.

http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx