This Startup Uses 3D Printing to Make Minimal

By Tim Nelson

Though it's already evident that 3D printing has the potential to revolutionize the landscape of architecture and design, its full capabilities have yet to be explored. That's what led some of the brain trust behind DUS Architects, a Dutch firm known for its efforts to build a 3D-printed canal house in Amsterdam, to spin off into a new business more focused on elegant applications of this nascent technology.

With Aectual, Hans Vermeulen, Hedwig Heinsman, and Martine de Wit marry 3D printing with robotics to "translate your unique design into a signature floor," according to the company's website. Using a robotic arm with six degrees of freedom (in this case, the ability to move up and down, left and right, and forward and back), Aectual partners with engineering firm Arup to 3D-print terrazzo flooring patterns of any size, scale, and shape to the exact specifications of client designs.

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Beyond the appeal of a flooring system that offers up a theoretically infinite number of aesthetic possibilities, Aectual's methods also place great emphasis on sustainability. The printed material consists of a plant-based bio-plastic, and the terrazzo that fills the 3D-printed mold is composed of recycled granite or marble chips, making for a durable, zero-waste flooring.

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So far, Aectual's 3D Printed flooring has appeared in Tokyo department store Loft and is slated to occupy nearly 2,000 square feet of Amsterdam's overhauled Schipol airport. Given the advantages of 3D printing and the importance of zero-waste production methods, Aectual's mesmerizing flooring patterns will surely show up in more corners of the globe very soon.