Amsterdam Will Soon Boast a 3D Printed Steel Bridge

Bridges are something of a thing in Amsterdam and a necessity for navigating over all those canals.

So, it is fitting then that the city famous for its bridges will soon get a new one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

According to the designers, building the world’s first 3D printed steel pedestrian bridge to go over Amsterdam’s ancient canals is a perfect way to combine tradition and technology.

“We came to the conclusion that a bridge over the old canals of Amsterdam would be a fantastic metaphor for connecting the technology of the future with the city’s historic past, in a way which would reveal the best aspects of both worlds,” Joris Laarman, the bridge designer said.  “I strongly believe in the future of digital manufacturing and local production – it’s a ‘new form of craftsmanship’. This bridge can show how 3D printing has finally entered the world of large-scale functional objects and sustainable materials, while enabling unrivalled freedom of design.”

Such an ambitious project also required an innovative method to get the job done.

“What distinguishes our technology from traditional 3D printing methods is that we work according to the ‘Printing Outside the Box’ principle,” said MX3D’s CTO, Tim Geurtjens. “By printing with 6-axis industrial robots, we are no longer limited to a square box in which everything happens. Printing a functional, life-size bridge is of course the ideal way to showcase the endless possibilities of this technique.”

The location of the bridge has not yet been made public, but the MX3D team said the will reveal more updates abut the project soon.

Photo Credit: Screenshot