Robotic arm large-scale 3D printing specialists Aectual used a mix of recycled fishing nets and plastic waste reclaimed from the ocean to fabricate these coral-inspired facades designed by MVRDV at the Tiffany & Co. location inside Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Aectual is one of the top platforms producing facades, furniture, and architectural enhancements with a focus on circular material via a global network of robotic arm 3D printers and recycling partners.
Commercial interiors are changed every five to seven years and even faster at airport locations. Making interior changes a perpetual waste production and a huge carbon creator. In fact, the building industry is responsible for about 30% of the world’s waste. “We work with recycled waste-streams and plant-based materials, creating no waste in the process, and after use, all products can be taken back and shredded into new material which we directly re-print into new products again,” says Aectual.
The new Tiffany & Co. facade was created using polymer pellets and shreds originating from discarded and reclaimed ocean fishing nets and other recycled plastic.
A particularly challenging task was to meet the stringent regulations for fire safety required in an airport. This issue was solved by adding a chemical to the mixture that is also manufactured using seawater, according to MVRDV.
There are several initiatives to reclaim ocean plastic and use it in, not only large-scale 3D printing projects such as the Kelp collection restaurant furniture by Interesting Times Gang, but also to sell it as filament, such as from Fishy Filaments or ReFlow, for any consumer-grade FDM printer.
Other examples of 3D printing with ocean plastics can be seen at BMW, which plans to use the old fishing nets in trim parts for its 2025 line of EVs. Samsung plans to repurpose discarded nets into parts for its Galaxy devices and Mattel released its Barbie Loves the Ocean collection to celebrate its reuse of ocean-bound plastic.
Aectual can connect your own corporate waste-streams to a 3D printing projects or used recycled plastic from another source.
The Tiffany & Co. shop is far from the first to use 3D printing. In fact, in just the past few year, it’s been used at Nike Town and Burberry at Harrods in London, Ecoalf in Madrid, Dior in Turkey, and Cartier in Tuscany, among others.
The robotic arm 3D printing employed by Aectual can print extremely large objects. There’s a growing number of printer makers and print services offering these types of machines that couple a robotic are with a polymer extruder end.
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