Channelling Future Technologies

Bringing artistic visions to life using 3D printing

Artist

Juan Schutte (ZA)

Olaf Diegel (NZ)

Simon Chan(HK)

Claire Barnsley (ZA)

Creative Design and Additive Manufacturing Lab, The University of Auckland

Artists and Designers are highly skilled at pushing boundaries and ideas that often help us re-imagine how the future will look. Unfortunately, many of these thoughts are trapped in renderings and have never been physically realized. Thankfully there has been significant progress in the development of advanced engineering software and manufacturing technology that now presents an opportunity to create otherwise tedious or impossible structures. Inspired by the works of Chad Knight, the team has explored this potential in “Channeling Future Technologies” by implementing advanced workflows and engineering within nTopology. This emerging software and developed techniques have allowed the group to create a solution whereby lattice-based features can be created from sculpted works and upon these complex forms features can be patterned.

Artist Biography:

Prof. Olaf Diegel is both a leading educator and practitioner of additive manufacturing (AM). A champion of product development, he has an excellent track record of developing innovative solutions to engineering problems. In his role as professor of additive manufacturing, at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand, he is involved in all aspects of AM. He has developed over 100 commercialized new products.

Dr. Juan Schutte began his research career in the development of a novel Additive Manufacturing technology at Massey University and is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland’s CDAM Lab where as a R&D Engineer he consults with industry and academia on the opportunities of 3D printing.

Simon Chan is currently completing a PhD at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Auckland. His area of research interest is the advancement of metal additive manufacturing (AM). With over 25 years of tool design and mould-making experience, his prime research focus is on making metal AM an affordable alternative for the New Zealand mould-making industry.

Claire Barnsley has a BSc Degree in Chemistry and Genetics, a Post-Grad Teaching Diploma and a Specialist Certificate in Training Management. Her career spans the education sector, the pharmaceutical industry and clinical research. She currently leads the CDAM Lab’s administrative operations and drives external engagement. http://cdamlab.com/

Project Credits:

Creative Design and Additive Manufacturing Lab, The University of Auckland