BCL * Recycled Plastic Robotic 3D Printing
TYPE Material Research & Public Installation
DATE 2022 - 2024
LOCATION Ithaca
DESIGN LEADDavid Costanza
DESIGN TEAM Zekai Lin
Riley Wines
Jonathan Wilmers
OVERVIEW Closed Loop is a robotically 3D printed bio-plastic bench. The collective bench offers a place of pause and rest along primary pedestrian routes on campus. Critically, this research utilizes a public furniture object to investigate issues of manufacturing and scalability while exploring the potential of bio-plastics as a structural material for the construction of building components. Thus, the ambition of the project is both cultural/societal and technical. Culturally, the project aims to make connections between often discrete groups or individuals by producing a piece of shared public furniture. Technically, the project investigates the use of bio-plastics with the automation of production offered by robotic 3D printing.
The bench’s geometry organizes the seating areas into three smaller sections that are socially distanced from one another while belonging to the same closed loop. The bench is made of 6 self-similar components that were printed independently and assembled on-site. The triangular cross-section produces a flat surface for the seating component and then rotates to an inverted triangle to elevate from the ground and divide the seating areas.