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My name is Daniel, I'm an architectural assistant at MATT Architecture, based in central London
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and we use 3D printing in a whole range of applications to translate our ideas into build form
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MATT's quite a young company. We do a whole range of work
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from bespoke residential work to commercial developments
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We're quite a fun company
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and we're just enjoying the process of designing and delivering buildings at the moment
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Part of our mission statement or company ethos
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is to unlock the potential of difficult sites through fun and inclusive architecture
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In the past, in my old job, we would have made models by hand
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just cutting the paper, cutting card
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It's great for capturing ideas
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but when it comes to developing complex shapes, complex geometry, it's really labour-intensive
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So for something like this, for example, we would have cut out all the floor plans, all the facades
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we would have to work out all the geometries and fold the card
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and even then it wouldn't have been very sturdy
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so we were kind of limited, in a way
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By the time I come to MATT in 2013, desktop 3D printing was already starting to become kind of available
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and Matt actually funded a Kickstarter 3D printer that we were trying to use in the office
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so that's how we started to use it here
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I'm working on a project called Ilona Rose House, and it's a large mixed-use redevelopment in central London
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and that's a model that we worked with through the planning process, to show the building in its context
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and that's actually a traditional architectural model; quite expensive, takes a long time to produce
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and we found we needed to reiterate the design quite a lot of times
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so the 3D printer was super useful for being able to produce cheap but really beautiful massing proposals
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to show the planners and engage them in the planning process
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and we just print it in a filament which has wood embedded in it, so we can achieve a really similar look
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The real advantage of Ultimaker for us has been the speed that it can print at, but also the reliability
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and this is one where we 3D printed at 1-to-1 the pattern that we want to have on the building's facade
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so the green and the yellow are 3D printed pieces and the white are cast from this central green piece
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and this lets us then cast a mold
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a flexible, silicone mold
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and then produce a tile
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which is really useful to talk to manufacturers about the finish we're trying to achieve
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but also to show the client the vision we have for the build
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We've designed all the facade pieces we're going to then take a mold of and then cast
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This is another example of how we just reintegrate 3D printing with traditional techniques
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So here we are, at the site of the Ilona Rose House project
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These 3 buildings on the corner here, going all the way back to that road are all to be demolished
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to make way for the project we're designing on at the moment
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That model of the corner you were just seeing is actually this corner here, which marks the entrance into Soho
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so it's really important for the project and really important for us
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and this facade pattern we've been working on will be applied to the building all along here
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and on that street there
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We find that, when we make models it really engages the client
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A lot of what we do is quite technical, like producing technical drawings
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When you show someone a technical drawing, they don't really engage with that
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but when you show someone a model and suddenly they can pick it up and look around it
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I think it's a way we engage people with the ideas we're trying to pursue
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That's what we're trying to do