Written by Cristina Ruiz Nolasco, 3D printing specialist and BIM architect at AGi architects.

Two years ago, when we first got our 3D printer,  there was this hubbub in the office and we were all like the apes around the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

After more than 50 projects using the 3D printer, we have been able to discover the benefits of this technological advancement. Nowadays there are many 3D printers in the market, which are applied to very different fields, from prosthetics and organ printing to food printing.

The models have always been allies for architects when it comes to shape complex concepts which would be unimaginable through 2D drawings. They help clients to understand the spaces and concepts behind the projects and allow architects to develop and improve the design.

With the 3D printer,  creating variations of a project to present different options or to explain design concepts is easier and faster. Thanks to technological advances such as BIM design and 3D printing, more time is invested in the design that the client needs and less in producing materials such as plans, drawings and models. In long processes such as the architectural ones, being able to offer the client  images of his future home, either in virtual reality or a model, it is always useful to keep the focus on the fundamental concepts of a project. And this helps end users appreciate the value of the proposals.

At the beginning of any project it is always interesting to build some quickly-made models that could help the development of the concept and the volumetrics that we want to show; 3D printing saves a lot of time as it can allow us to implement variations in just a couple of hours.

The most obvious case of 3D printer usefulness was from the beginning the possibility of printing those models with the most complex geometries. Thanks to the 3D printer, we can achieve a level of freedom in the design and a precision which, if  it was to be done manually, it would take so long that it would eventually harm the client.

In those moments of stress when the project is continually evolving until the end, the 3D printer has proven to be a great ally. Instead of spending a week modifying or remaking a model by hand; the possibility of changing a 3D model and sending it to print during the night is far more effective. At AGi architects, we use the BIM methodology, so the same models developed for 3D printings are also used for the development of plans and drawings; parallelizing processes. By being able to print a fully updated model at any time, the 3D printer has become a perfect tool to develop our designs.