A Massive Grotto 3D Printed out of Sandstone Has Been Completed

A fully immersive grotto printed out of sandstone emerges.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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The world’s first full-scale architectural object created with a 3D printer has been completed. 

Michael Hansmeyer and Benjamin Dillenburger, a pair of architect-programmers, have been working on the project for months, having previously produced only a scale-sized prototype.

The project, called Digital Grotesque, was created with a new method of 3D printing that utilizes sandstone as its main source material, rather than plastic. This method is much sturdier than the small-scale 3D printing that is used only for prototypes and scale models.

The Digital Grotesque project used a complex series of computer algorithms to produce this high-resolution, fully immersive model. The result is a grotto at the intersection of high-baroque design and modern technologies, something disarming and slightly terrifying. Check out video of the manufacturing below:

This is what the design team has to say:

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RELATED: 20 Items Being 3D Printed in 2013 

[via Designboom]

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